


Reporting for Duty... Sourwolf

by cdavis594



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Arson, BAMF Stiles, Bottom Derek, Confused Stiles, Curious Stiles, Derek Has Issues, Fluff and Angst, Investigations, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pack doesn't know, Scientist Lydia, Shameless Smut, Sheriff Stilinski Doesn't Know, Shower Sex, Stiles getting over Nogitsune, Stiles still hurting, True Alpha Scott, post season 3B
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-24 14:36:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1608662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cdavis594/pseuds/cdavis594
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is still hurting from the aftermath of the Nogitsune, but he finds solace in the most unlikely member of the pack; Derek will do anything to get the old Stiles back.<br/>They refrain from labeling exactly what they are, but when Stiles is sick of questioning what they are, Derek allows him to label it, as long as nobody knows about their relationship; for legal reasons.<br/>This is all about their futures together, and it was all gonna sunshine and daisies, but my beta made me put angst in here too.<br/>Also, Stiles finds his path in life, and he's super excite! This has college, long distance relationships, tons of angst, fluff and smut, and future family life for the whole pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aftermath

The Nogitsune messed me up, that was definite, I couldn't trust myself, let alone understand why the people around me could trust me. Sure, we made sure the Nogitsune was gone for good, but I couldn't pry this constant anxiety from my chest. The weight of it pressed down on me when I needed to breathe the most. Contradicting with the trust issues, the weight lifted enough for me to deal when I was with people; my dad, Scott, our strange little makeshift 'pack', they made me feel like I didn't have a demented fox inside of my body less than a year ago, hell, I even accept the company of Peter at this point – I still hate guy, but the company of anyone was a relief.

The pressure cascaded down on me when I was alone, I used to seek comfort in the shower, using it as time to think and relax, but now it seemed like a place of torture; a prison where I was stuck on my own, with my thoughts, with the remnants of my mind. I had never told my friends and my dad that I remembered every minute that the Nogitsune plagued my body, because I knew it would worry them; I told them that everything was hazy and that the Nogitsune must have taken the memories with it, and Kira's family's lack of knowledge on the subject helped my cause. The truth is that I can remember every manipulative thought it had, every tight grasp around an innocent's neck, the flies plagued my nightmares, and I know my dad can hear me at night, I wake in a cold sweat sometimes, but he doesn't press it; for a few months after the incident with the Nogitsune I would scream my way through nightmares, but recently, exactly 9 months after what happened, my nightmares were easing up.

I felt better with every day, every week my shoulders felt lighter, every month that passed by I was able to lock away a tiny piece of the carnage left inside my head by the Nogitsune. Of course I wasn't doing this all by myself, I had the help of the oddest member of our pack; the person that ended the Nogitsune and its hold on me.

 

FLASHBACK – 9 Months Ago…

 

Derek's howl from inside my own noggin broke me from the game, he pulled me out of the trance the Nogitsune held me in, but emerging from a regurgitated pile of bandages had freaked everybody out, especially me.

Peter whisked away as soon as we realised the Nogitsune had fled, but while Melissa checked over my seemingly perfect body, Scott and Lydia bombarded me with questions that I couldn't answer; I sat on Scott's sofa with my knees tucked under my chin as I tried to process what was going to happen now there was two of me running around Beacon Hills.

Lydia texted the twins, Isaac, and Chris Argent after she called my dad; he wasn't answering his phone and the nagging worry in the pit of my stomach held me speechless.

"Stiles..." A husky voice called out to me, it was a voice that pulled me from the thoughts passing through my head; I looked up to him as he cleaned myself and Lydia's blood off of his fingers.

"W-what's gonna happen now?" I choked on my words as he walked closer; he pushed Scott out of the way and my eyes took a second to focus on his strangling grey eyes. 

"Stiles, I don't care how long it takes, we're gonna find the Nogitsune and I'm gonna rip its throat out... With my teeth," his voice pulsed through my ears and I clambered out of my sitting position; brushing past Derek's solid chest I looked at everybody in the room hesitantly. Worry still stained their deceitful eyes and I didn't blame them for not trusting me; for all they knew I could still have a part of the Nogitsune in me. I didn't though, its presence in my mind had vanished and more than anything I just wanted to cry myself into a long, rejuvenating sleep; but I still had some business to do.

"I understand I've hurt you, and I understand if you don't trust me, but I've gotta stop it before it hurts someone else… so I could really use your help?” I looked up at them from under thick eyelashes and Scott’s face broke out into a Cheshire cat grin and his arms engulfed me.

“I thought we’d lost you Stiles… don’t _ever_ do that to me again,” Scott’s eyes bore into mine, glowing scarlet against his tan skin. “Oh, sure, I’ll try not to let any more psychotic foxes wander through my melon!” I shook my head at him, the grin on my lips showed the falsity of my sarcasm.

“Are you forgetting the Nogitsune is out there, and its already got a pretty good head start on us,” Derek pulled on his jacket and his stare held me captive as he continued, “Stiles, do you have any idea where it would go? Or, what it would do?”

“Well, think about it, the Nogitsune’s out for strife and chaos and it feeds off of pain, so what can it do the cause all of those things now it’s out of Stiles?” Lydia piped in, her green eyes calculating as she looked at me expectantly; her lips twisted into a smile when my mouth hung agape.

“Uh… well- uh… it knows we’re a pack, so it’s gotta hit someone that isn’t here surely?” I asked and she nodded, relief hung in the air as the people around me released a simultaneous sigh.

“What about the chess board in your room? Could that help?” Scott asked and I frowned; could it help? I didn’t think so.

“No… no, Lydia is everyone on their way? Did you get a hold of _everyone_?” I asked and my brain ticked back into its natural rhythm as the adrenaline of the moment stoked the fire in my dwindling mind.

“Ethan, Aiden and Isaac are on their way back from the school, they said they’re bleeding some weird black stuff but they’re fine, Chris and Allison are almost here, but I couldn’t get hold of your dad; he won’t answer his phone, Melissa tried calling him too, no luck…” Lydia stared down at her ankle boots with her hands behind her back; I couldn’t concentrate as this news hit me.

At least we had some kind of clue as to where the Nogitsune is… kinda.

“I can’t just wait here for them to arrive, Derek, Lydia come with me; Scott call Deaton, get him here. We’re gonna find my dad-” Scott interrupted my orders and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Dude… you’re taking _Derek_ and not _me_?” He sounded hurt but I didn’t exactly have time for his jealousy; I need my dad.

“Scott think about it, Derek has a lot more experience in tracking, but that’s not it; if you had let me finish my sentence you would know that I was going to tell you to take everyone to my house when they get here in case my dad goes back there before we find him. I know I can trust you to keep everybody safe, so do me a favour and do what I ask please,” I faced his glowing red eyes steadily, refusing to give in to the menacing sight; I don’t think my brain could comprehend fear at the moment. I just had to find my dad and get rid of that damn Nogitsune.

Scott turned away from me as Ethan, Aiden and Isaac stormed through the door; they looked at me wearily and I bowed my head, “It’s gone but I have the feeling it’s going after my dad. Stay here with Scott and protect everyone. Come on, I don’t have time for this.” I barked at Derek and Lydia and although a muscle bounced in Derek’s jaw, he stayed silent and followed me out of the house.

 

**4 Hours Later…**

 

            “No offense Stiles, but we’ve looked everywhere your dad would be and everywhere you could think to look; I think it’s time for plan B…” Lydia’s lips pouted as she leaned from foot to foot. We had returned to the police station, where we found my dad’s phone with a million missed calls and unread texts on it; nobody had seen him for a while.

            “I-I don’t know Lydia, god dammit! I wish… ugh, I wish we could all just go back to the start! Before all this _crap_ started!” I threw my fists down on my dad’s desk and leaned against the desk; my eyes searched everything on his desk but nothing helped. I was stuck. I had no clues, no leads… nothing.

            “Wait… that’s it… back to the start… Stiles you’re a genius! This all started with the Nemeton; the Nogitsune’s gonna go back to where it started, like a poetic justice… it wants a game, so we’re gonna play it at its own game,” Lydia grinned, her hands pulled my face around to look at her and her arms wrapped around my waist. I looked up at Derek where he stood inspecting the walls of my dad’s office and he turned to look right back at me; the tiniest glimmer of hope twinkled in his eyes and the curve in his lips ignited a wave of emotion inside of me. I held onto the expression of his face and mirrored it as we rushed out of the station.

            Derek drove my jeep – we all agreed my driving might not be up to spec at the moment – to the entrance of the Beacon Hills forest and we jumped out; I would remember the way to the Nemeton for the rest of my life. The path was burned into my mind.

            We arrived as the sun was setting and as Lydia assumed, my dad was there, curled up in a ball on top of the Nemeton, his hands and feet were tied together with thick cable ties and as I took a step toward him, Derek’s strong hand gently took my forearm and pulled me back slightly as the Nogitsune wandered into the large clearing.

            It was the strangest thing I had ever witnessed, it was like staring into a mirror and seeing the terrible reflection oppose every move you made; he sauntered around the Nemeton, it’s – my – eyes trained on me, gauging my reaction.

            I held my composition and watched the Nogitsune stare at me in confusion; it expected me to run for my dad, and I really did want to, but Derek’s light grip on my arm held me firmly in place. Lydia slid her hand into mine and as her eyes closed, I had to wonder what on earth she was doing.

            “Stiles… what are you doing? Look at the Sheriff, looks pretty pale… doesn’t he?” A cool smirk slipped onto the Nogitsune’s face and I restrained myself from looking at my dad; I kept my eyes on him, knowing all too well it would annoy him that I wasn’t playing along with his plan. It wanted pain, but I was sick of giving it what it wanted. I wouldn’t let it take _anything_ from me ever again; especially not my dad.

            I breathed slowly, controlling my heartbeat, and I knew by the falter in the Nogitsune’s smirk that I was getting under its skin. Derek let go of my arm and Lydia looked up at me; I looked down and nodded at her, to which she dropped my hand.

            I took one last steadying breath and made my way towards my mirrored opponent and its grin widened; it knew I was out of my league advancing on it, and I knew I could do nothing to physically hurt the abomination, but what I could do was distract it.

            “You know, in the midst of all this… chaos, I’ve noticed that nobody ever asked you a pretty damn important question,” I circled it, the strange part was that I was looking into eyes that had brought about the death of people I knew. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to devise some evil way to bring about its demise; I just wanted it dead and out of my life.

            “Oh yeah, and what would that be, Stiles?” It spat out my name and I smirked at it.

            “How are you?” I asked casually, as if addressing an old friend.

            “I’m just peachy, but I can’t say the same for your pops; his heart rate’s dropping rather quickly,” I could see from the look in its void eyes that it was using every resource it had at this point.

            “Listen, Stiles, let’s cut the crap okay? Why bring the mutt and the banshee if you weren’t going to use them? I mean, it’s not like you need them; I’ve been up there with you, I know you-” I held up my hand to halt its speech and a disgusted sneer slid onto my face.

            “You don’t know me at all…” I cooed as I nodded over its shoulder and it spun around as Kira thrust her sleek katana through its chest, lightning danced across the blade as Derek, in full wolf form, came behind it and did as he promised; his teeth ploughed into its neck and he shredded the head from the shoulders. Blackness oozed from its chest when Kira removed her blade and Derek dropped the head to the ground as his white shirt was drenched in black goo.

            As planned, Lydia skipped over to us and took the bottle of vodka we brought with us out of her jacket pocket and she covered the mangled body in the sharp smelling liquid; Derek pulled out a zippo lighter, stood back and threw it on the body. It ignited instantly and I watched it burn until I couldn’t stand the smell of burning flesh anymore; I turned my attention to my dad and breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes fluttered open.

            I ran to him and started to fumble with the tight cable ties but Derek took my shaking hands and a small smile reached his eyes as he tore through the ties without any strain. I grinned at him then looked at my dad as he rubbed at his bruised wrists. My arms swallowed him in a hug as he stood up and his arms instantly mirrored my actions; he pulled back and his hands held my face gently, he just looked into my eyes in silence. A silence I didn’t feel the need to fill. My arms pulled me into his chest and I closed my eyes tightly, his embrace was like a warm blanket that I never wanted to shed; he was cold, but he still felt so warm to me.

            His lips repeatedly placed soft kisses into my long hair and I bathed in his feelings; relief oozed from him and I just wanted to stay in his arms for as long as I could. My hand brushed across my dad’s sheriff badge and a smile found its way onto my lips; my emotions rushed around in my head and heart, the pit of my stomach swelled with happiness as he mumbled and stuttered over words. Mostly he just told me he loved me, and he didn’t know what he would do if he lost me; I believed every word that tumbled out of his mouth.

            However, my stomach had a different idea; it groaned and growled and the sharp pangs in my mid-section had me clenching my own torso. Had it really been that long since I ate something?

            “How ‘bout we get outta here and get some grub?” My dad asked light-heartedly as he glanced at the burning body a few feet away from us.

            “You know what dad that is the _best_ freakin’ idea I’ve heard in a long time” I grinned and slung my arm around his shoulder as he did the same; he limped slightly and I assumed it was due to the cable ties that had been far too tight around his ankles.

            We got mountains of food and Derek was the only one in the car that didn’t tuck into the fast food goodness; he said something about it all being poison to the body. Dick.

            Derek parked in my drive and every single light in the house seemed to be glowing; I grabbed a brown paper bag in each arm and followed Derek into the house. Scott looked downright shell-shocked when Kira walked through the door giggling with Lydia and I laughed at the expression on his face.

            We shared out the food and to say that all eyes were on me for the rest of the night was an understatement; Scott even followed me to the bathroom, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

            At around 11 p.m. my body felt like I had done a whole triathlon in under an hour. I told them I needed sleep and the happiness that shone in their eyes when I said this made me worry; I knew I was bad, but had I worried them all _that much_?

            I looked around my room and my eyes lingered on the chess board on my desk; I moved over to it and re-arranged the board with fumbling fingers. As I picked up my King, a hand covered mine and I looked behind me, feeling warm breath brush across my face. Derek’s face was mere inches away from mine and I flinched back, grasping the King tightly in my hand; he watched me cautiously and I frowned. Why is Derek Hale in my room… again?

            “Can I ask you a question?” He asked, his tone was warm but guarded and I sucked on my bottom lip; my eyes strayed down to the King in my hand and read the bright pink sticky note.

            “I get the feeling you’ll ask me whether I say yes or no…” I rolled the King around in my hands, inspecting the detail on his body; as one hand closed my own around the King and another pulled my chin up to meet his scorching eyes, my heart beat erratically and his breath fanned across my cheeks.

            “Why is my name on the King?” He whispered.

            “Wouldn’t you love to know…?” I smirked, biting my lip. I pulled away from him and placed the King in his rightful place on the chess board. I turned back to see my empty room, and that’s when it hit me; the weight of past few months dropped onto my shoulders and my hands fell onto my desk. My arms slipped and the chess board went tumbling to the floor as I stumbled over to the bed; my body felt heavy and my mind blurred into small snaps of thoughts and images and a dark sleep engulfed me. That night, even in my slumber, I could feel my dad’s eyes watching me; every time I woke up screaming he would wrap me in his arms and I could tumble back into sleep.

            No matter how unsettled it was, it was the best sleep I had experienced for so long; I never wanted to wake up ever again, but I knew I would have to. Life somehow carries on.


	2. Pack + Alcohol = Bad Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little out of control at a pack meeting.  
> The next morning brings a great amount of joy to both Stiles and Derek.

 

            Just as every Saturday night had commenced for the past couple of months, the pack sat in Derek’s loft on the large grey U-turn sofa; I sat at one end leaning on the armrest with my ankle balanced on my knee, my foot tapped the air as Scott told embarrassing stories about me, and trust me, there are a lot. Scott sat next to me, Isaac next to him, Ethan sat cross legged next to Isaac, Aiden had both of his arms draped over the back of the sofa with his legs spread open next to his twin, Lydia sat with her legs on Aiden’s lap, Allison sat next to her and Kira sat in the far corner of the sofa with her legs under her butt. Finally, there was Derek, in all his masculine glory, taking up the opposite side of the sofa; he sat in a position much similar to Aiden’s, but Derek had one arm on the armrest with a beer in his hand, the other hand rubbed his face as he chuckled at what Scott was saying. He did so enjoy my torture nowadays.

Derek’s eyes lingered on mine and the burning intensity behind them made me look away, we were eating dinner we had all chipped in to make… okay, that was a lie; we all chipped in to buy the pizza.

            “So I say to Stiles, as he stands in the pouring rain, ‘You got bit by bat, you’re not a vampire, but you are an idiot!’” Scott’s bellowing laughter rang around the room, chorused by the laughter of our friends; I smiled sheepishly. His story was true, but it was a _long_ time ago. Derek’s laugh was small and subtle, but it shone in his eyes like the Batman sign.

            “Well, before Scott makes any more wise cracks at my expense, could you steer me in the direction of your alcohol, Derek?” I looked at him expectantly and he raised an eyebrow as a smirk snaked across his face.

            “C’mon, we’ve got SAT’s coming up, this could be our last chance to relax and unwind!” I groaned as I ran for the kitchen. I flipped open different cupboards, Derek glided slowly over to the kitchen and leaned his crossed arms on the cold island bar. He watched me with a knowing look in his eyes.

            He had to have like, a bottle of Jack or something somewhere, _surely_!

            When every cupboard door hung open I turned to him with my hands on my hips; he looked smug and I glared at him. He stood up and made his way up the spiral staircase, he came back down after less than a minute with a half full bottle of Jack Daniels; I knew he was a JD drinker; I have for a few months.

            Derek started arriving at my bedroom window in the middle of the night just before Christmas, at first I thought it was kinda creepy, but then I got used to leaving it open so he could just come on in. We did all sorts until I physically couldn’t stay awake any longer; I taught him how to play chess, we played music to each other to pass time, but mostly, we just talked. Of course, I did most of the talking; he was all eyebrows, grunts and moody looks, but I soon learned how to read him.

            “Now you’re speaking my language!” I grinned as he rolled his eyes.

            “No Stiles, I don’t think anybody speaks your language,” He smirked up at me; his eyes looked at me from under his lashes and a part of me heated at the suggestive look there.

            “Stiles get some glasses!” Isaac called and Scott scoffed, looking at Isaac with a raised eyebrow.

            “What, you can’t go up and help?” Scott’s voice was light and teasing and Isaac raised both of his eyebrows challengingly; he sprung from the sofa and made a point of gathering glasses with me.

            When everybody had a glass Derek poured himself a drink and passed me the bottle across the table. As everybody poured their drinks I watched Derek throw back his drink and pour another when the bottle came back to him.

            “Never have I ever…” As I wondered what I hadn’t done in life, Derek rolled his eyes but said nothing as the room looked at me like I was the dumb younger sibling they wished they could smother with a pillow… what? Too graphic?

            “Seriously Stiles?” Isaac looked at me daringly and I took a deep breath, deciding what I hadn’t done.

“ _Never_ have I _ever_ had oral sex.” I looked around at them smugly; Lydia shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she took a long swig at her drink. Aiden followed suit, then Allison, then Scott, then Ethan and eventually, as Lydia was about to take her turn, Derek’s glass raised to his lips and he reluctantly took a drink. My jaw dropped and a snigger ran through my strange group of friends.

“Was it the psycho werewolf hunter or the vengeful evil Druid?” Isaac erupted in a wave of bellowing laughter and Derek glared daggers through his skull; I leaned across Scott and my fist collided with Isaac’s crotch. Isaac curled up into a ball on the sofa as he held himself; tiny strangled cries escaped his lips as even his werewolf strength couldn’t take away all that pain.

Lydia cleared her throat uncomfortably, “Never have I ever cheated on a test.”

I admit I was the first to drink, followed by Scott, Isaac, Aiden and Derek. I was surprised but kept my mouth shut as Scott leaned forward; his expression was full of concentration.

“Never have I ever… been completely wasted,” Scott looked pretty proud of himself and I shook my head as myself and Lydia finished off out drinks and refilled them.

“Never have I ever been in a prison cell,” Kira grinned and I rolled my eyes as Ethan, Aiden, Isaac and Scott took a drink; I sighed and followed suit. My dad put me in to teach me a lesson once, a _long_ time ago.

“Never have I ever…” I stared up at the ceiling with my mouth hung open and my tongue sliding across my bottom lip, this game seemed to be getting harder, “Never… have I… _ever_ …” I looked around the room lazily and I grinned, “had sex with a monster!”

Lydia and Derek glared at me as they took a drink. Okay, I felt a little guilty at that, and Malia didn’t count as a monster, did she?

“Never have I ever wanted to finish this game more than I do now,” Derek growled and I looked into his eyes from where he sat on the sofa opposite me; his stunning eyes were calm but his mouth was twisted into what resembled a smirk. I realised this expression was due to the fact that everyone took a drink.

“Well, how about we put some music on!” I threw my body off of the sofa and made my way over to Derek’s impressive record player and record collection; I flicked through a few records until I found The Smiths. I set the record player up and turned the volume as high as it would go. The sound was crisp and sweet to my ears and I let my body sway to the music as it pleased; I tipped the rest of my drink down my throat, put my glass down somewhere and my arms raised above my head as the lucid music flooded my ears.

Kira, Allison and Isaac joined my dancing first, and then Ethan and Lydia, then Aiden and Scott rolled their eyes as they met our silly dancing. I had two left feet and no sense of rhythm, but I still managed to find my way around Derek’s loft with swaying hips.

When the music’s volume decreased and the dancing stopped, I stood talking to Lydia, leaning against one of the pillars in the loft. We had finished the Jack Daniels and Derek had reluctantly retrieved a bottle of vodka – and more – from the off-licence around the corner from the loft.

“Lydia… Lydia M-Martin… strawberry blonde Lydia Martin… what did you ever see in a total d-bag like Jackson?” I slurred and she lightly punched my shoulder, scoffing as a giggle escaped her lips. A hiccup escaped my lips and I took another chug of the glass of straight vodka in my glass.

“No, no, no… no… I’m serious! He was such a dick… like a big dick that you just couldn’t get rid of… hah, if we went to Hogwarts he’d be in Sytherin… and you’d be in Hufflepuff… ‘cause you’re so smart… and Jackson’s such a god damn asshole-” I didn’t get a chance to finish my drunken mumbling due to the fist that collided with my face; I stumbled back from her punch and managed to trip over my own feet. I felt like I was spinning in the air in slow motion as I watched the blunt edge of a coffee table sail towards my face; before I could protect myself, my head collided with it and a groan escaped my lips.

My hand covered my forehead and my curled up body rolled around on the floor clumsily, my shaky right hand raised into the air, holding my glass of vodka victoriously, “Man down! Man down! But the alcohol survived, so it’s all good!” I cried, opening my eyes groggily.

Lydia moved with a shocked face to approach me, but a menacing growl sounded from somewhere in the room and I looked to see Derek half transformed, glowering at Lydia as he made his way to my side. My shaky limbs attempted to pull me off of the floor, but the dizzy feeling stirring around my head held me in place; I looked up at the scene in front of me leaning against the coffee table uncomfortably with my legs clumsily splayed out in front of me.

“What are you growling at? Stiles’ getting hurt isn’t an opportunity for you to show how masculine you are and how much dominance and authority you have over the wolves in this room! I have a news flash for you, big, bad Alpha; you aren’t my Alpha, in fact, I’m not a werewolf so I don’t have to bow down to you, or Scott for that matter! Don’t you _dare_ think you can impose your stupid authority on me because you’ve got another thing coming for you if you think I’m just gonna let you walk all over me! Do you think I meant to hurt him? It was a joke okay! Jeez, move outta my way you big lump!” Lydia screeched at Derek as he bared his canines at her. She went to walk towards me but Derek’s hand raised and he held her wrist firmly in his grasp, claws threatening to break the soft skin there.

Aiden, in defence of Lydia, rounded the sofa and pulled Lydia from Derek’s grasp roughly, his half-transformed face was menacing and angry; Derek showed no fear as his red eyes bore down on Aiden’s threateningly. My mouth flopped open and closed like a fish as I tried to retrieve words from my semi-functional brain.

“Guys… I’m like, totally fine…” I mumbled as a frown creased my brow; I pulled myself onto my feet and looked at them helplessly, waiting for the growling werewolves and the angry banshee to notice that there was no need for their stand-off.

“How dare you touch her?” Aiden glared at Derek and I rolled my eyes.

“Can you all just stop it?” I begged and they still ignored me, although Kira got me a towel with ice cubes in it and pressed it to my forehead.

I growled as Derek made the first move, pulling Aiden into the air and throwing him across the room; the alcohol had been a bad idea because if we hadn’t got the alcohol out in the first place my big mouth would not have taunted Lydia and Lydia wouldn’t have hit me and there wouldn’t be a macho werewolf standoff in Derek’s loft. I shook my head and stormed over to the kitchen, pulling out a wooden spoon and a large cooking pot. I marched over to the two werewolves who were punching each other as they rolled around on the floor.

With a sigh, I clattered the spoon against the pot repeatedly directly above their heads; the screeching sound rang through the loft until all of the werewolves in the room were covering their ears painfully. I dropped the pot and the spoon angrily on the floor beside Aiden and Derek, and I placed my hands firmly on my hips with a raised eyebrow; they both stood at their full height and looked at me with fully human faces.

            “Thank you. Now, if you’re both finished being complete Neanderthals, can we please _calm down_ and do something a little less violent?” I barked rhetorically, spinning on my heels, the anger had worn off, and with it came a rush of lightness in my head; for the second time today my body was useless in stopping my head colliding with foreign objects.

           

***

 

            My head throbbed as sunlight streamed pink through my eyelids, the warmth enveloping my body was a comfort, but my bladder screamed alert in my mind and I groaned; hardest decision ever! Do I go to the bathroom or lay here in the warmest, comfiest bed _ever_.

            “Finally you’re up…” a gruff voice mumbled from behind me and I jumped, eyes flying wide as the warm breath of Derek’s chuckle breezed past my ear. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the first time I’ve woken in Derek’s bed, in Derek’s arms, with a certain unwelcome kind of happiness, but I simply wasn’t expecting to be here this morning in particular.

            For the past couple of months, _something_ had been building between us, and I enjoyed it far too much to put a name on it; me and Derek, we just _were_. We were nothing complicated, just two guys making each other happy some times; no biggie.

            “Yeah, uh… what the hell happened last night? Was I drugged? Did you roofie me? Am I a rape victim?” Words tumbled out of my mouth and I didn’t bother to stop them as Derek’s arms loosened around my waist; I tumbled out of the sheets and sat on the cold floor for a minute, looking around his room groggily. The tent in my boxers needed to be hidden, so I crawled – limbs flailing – to his dresser, where my clothes lay perfectly folded, and I shimmied into my jeans. I awkwardly tucked that dreaded morning wood away just as warm hands slid around my waist; his stubble grazed my shoulder as his lips sucked on my neck. My head rolled back to allow him more access and his hands started unbuttoning my jeans very slowly; my hands lifted and travelled through his soft hair after he turned me around roughly.

            He tugged away my jeans and palmed my ass with clawed fingers, without effort he lifted me onto the dresser and I pulled his face to my own; I clasped his bottom lip between my own and a soft moan rumbled through his chest. Due to school, and Scott, and the pack in general, it had been at least two weeks since we had any real time together, which made this all the more vital and pleasing. I clasped my legs around his waist and his tongue slid across my lips easily, erupting a pit of fire in my underwear; a shaky breath escaped my slightly parted lips as he nuzzled my neck, nipping and biting down on my soft skin and my hands roamed across the panes of his back, dancing along the ever so slightly raised skin of his tattoo.

            His groping hands switched from my hair, to pulling my hopeless body closer into his, and when his tongue entered my mouth ecstasy rained down upon me. I shoved against his body and a growl echoed through his lips as I skipped ahead of him, throwing myself onto his bed, biting my lip. His deep, teasing grey-green eyes were ferocious and animalistic, but his lips curved into the slightest hint of a smirk as he crawled on top of my trembling body; his nose trailed up the dark happy trail peeking from beneath my purple boxers and his teeth clasped down on the elastic waistband. He took one final glance into my eyes and I melted under his intense stare as he let the elastic slap against my skin; a shiver of pleasure rippled through me as his fingers tugged away my boxers. Stiles Jr. sprang free and, propped up on my elbows, I let my head hang back as Derek’s palm took hold of me and his other hand raked down my chest teasingly, twisting my nipple between his thumb and index finger to draw a long, loud moan from my mouth as it hung freely open.

            His tongue teased from the base of my length to the tip, and with one hand still on my throbbing member, he reached into the side table beside his bed and pulled out the lube; he bit off the lid and poured a decent amount onto his palm. He began to work my length with a steady, teasing rhythm that had his name on the tip of my tongue, but no words could be formed around the pleasure that filled me to my core.

            “Say my name, Stiles… say it!” He growled, his breath came heavily across my neck as he resumed the rhythm of nipping and sucking at my collarbone.

            “D… D-Derek… oh my- God… Derek!” I cried, my toes curled as his body shifted and he flipped my body around; with my knees and elbows on the bed, my body quivering under his touch. His touch left my skin momentarily and my peripheral vision caught sight of his boxers being thrown aside hastily.

            “What do you want me to do to you, Stiles?” he purred in my ear as his whole body perched parallel to mine, the thin sweat on my back gliding across his toned chest.

            “I want you to take me… c-cum inside me…” his hand found its way back to my pulsing member and I groaned, deep in the back of my throat, a dark chuckle whisked across my neck and my body trembled beneath him. I felt his solid, lubricated tip swirl around my entrance and my heart beat tenfold, ready to beat out of my chest.

            “Where are your manners?” I could hear the grin in his voice as one hand took to massaging my shoulder whilst the other placed itself firmly on my waist; I relaxed under his touch, but my nerves jumped all over the place.

            “P-please!” I squealed and he roughly thrust himself inside me, his length plummeting through my core with no mercy; a lustful growling vibrated in his chest and through his throbbing length, which shook through my body in unison to his. My arms and legs threatened to buckle under the pressure, but my fists gripped and tugged at the sheets as he pounded his flesh against my own.

            His hands left my body and as his right hand took hold of my aching erection, his left lay on top of mine, his fingers curled into mine. I whimpered and whined as he thrust into me with all of his might, his thumb rolled across the slit of my arousal and my body bucked and jerked as my load erupted across the bed sheets. His small, animalistic grunts powered through my ears and his thrusts faltered as I felt his body begin to quiver along with mine.

            Slowly, teasingly, he pulled himself out of me and a whine escaped my lips; he flipped over my aching body and his hand pumped his own length, he bit his lip and his eyes bore into mine. I sat up as he remained kneeled and upright on the bed; I took his member into my own hand as his hands travelled into my hair, tilting my face up to his as his load shot across my cheeks and into my open mouth. I licked my lips and swallowed what had landed in my mouth, and grinned up at him, “That’s your money shot right there, Sourwolf.”

            Although he had not obliged to my wishes, his warm fluid caked across my face gave me just as much pleasure; there was always something bittersweet about Derek’s cum, and I couldn’t quite figure out what was so strange about it, but truthfully, I enjoyed the taste as it hit the back of my throat. Hell, I didn’t even mind the fact that I would later be violently scrubbing dry cum out of my hair.

            He smiled down at me and we repositioned ourselves to the pillows; I sprawled across the warmth of his chest and he pulled the sweat-dampened sheets up to our waists. I pulled his hand into mine, lacing our fingers together as his fingertips danced lightly across the small of my back.

            “You’re worth a million money shots,” he whispered and I laughed lightly as the golden February morning sun tickled our skin.

            “Oh, so romantic!” I panted, still wondering how I would be able to walk after that utter and complete annihilation and he shook his head, smiling down into my eyes; I could get so used to this, waking up on a Sunday morning and just knowing that I wouldn’t be alone. Derek wouldn’t let me be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that just happened.  
> Prepare for a lot more of that!  
> And thank you for reading! It brings a great amount of pleasure to me when I get a kudos, and those emails are safely saved to my email account... I'm not weird, I swear...


	3. Leave it alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles has a run-in with Peter.  
> The pack are getting curious about Stiles' accelerating recovery.  
> Derek gets talkative.

“Stiles, time for school! Get your ass up!” My dad shouted up the stairs and I groaned, flopping around in my bed as school dawned on me; I crawled closer to the edge of the bed, misjudging my distance from it and clattered to the floor. I gotta stop getting out of bed like that.

I showered quickly and skipped across the hallway back into my room, I stood and searched my room with blurry eyes, grabbing a Batman shirt, clean underwear and a pair of dark jeans out of my dresser, after I had my clothes on I looked out my bedroom window and it seemed slightly cold out, so I opted for the trusted red hoody and put it on in a hurry. Pulling a banana out of the fruit bowl in the kitchen and a piece of heavily buttered toast off my dad’s plate, I snagged my school bag and called a quick goodbye over my shoulder.

            “Wait!” My dad’s stern voice called and I stopped with my foot out the door; I spun on my heels and waited for him to elaborate.

            “Have you seen your face today?” He asked and I frowned; I closed the front door and walked over a mirror. A large, dark purple bruise surrounded my left eye and the flesh around my eye was puffy and shining; scoffing, I shook my head at my dad, ignoring the ‘what’s going on?’ look on his face.

            The drive to school had been one of pondering; Saturday night had given me a lot to think about, I mean, I know I was drunk but the fact that _Lydia_ of all people could send me crashing, well, it really was a low blow to my ego. I don’t blame Lydia for punching me, I just blame myself for being a clumsy idiot.

            “C’mon Stiles, you can’t always be the damn victim… do something!” I glanced in the rear view mirror and frowned; I pulled the jeep off the road and turned it off. The silence filled my head with the unbearable sound of my own thoughts; I couldn’t handle it.

            “Do you even realise how many people have gotten hurt… _died_ because of you? You’re a plague… people die around you… worthless… useless... waste of space… Scott doesn’t need you anymore, you’re only holding him back… he’s got the pack, and Kira… you’re only putting your dad through more pain… may as well add ‘selfish’ to the god damn list; _why not_? God only knows why Derek even looks _twice_ at you; you’re a self-pitying, broken, insane nobody… and he’s a God… and _Alpha_ … you’re not even worth the dirt on the bottom of his shoes…” The whispers tumbled out of my mind and I knew how unbelievably true they were; I couldn’t hide from the truth, I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t handle it anymore… I didn’t want my dad, my friends or my pack to hurt because of my pain; I couldn’t let them hurt for me. I had to stop the suffering… somehow.

            “ _Do something, Stiles!_ Dammit!” I screamed, throwing my fist angrily at the steering wheel; the whip of pain that shot up my arm annoyed me even further and I pounded a second fist against the wheel. The pressure building in my chest, the constant anger that I felt, it grew inside of me, taking a ridiculous hold on my mind; slumping out of the jeep, I slammed the door and growled at my own reflection. I felt sick looking into my own eyes, all I could see was the Nogitsune, draining everything I had. I scowled at the image in the window and turned away from the jeep; I looked out at the long stretch of green along the road and my feet began walking me through the gaps between the trees.

            The wild scents breezed across my face in the early February cold and I shoved my hands into my pockets. My breath came out in small puffs of smoke and I watched the trees pass by me as I walked further into the woods.

            “If you weren’t such a weakling none of this would have happened… somebody always gets hurt, no matter how much you try; people get hurt protecting you, ‘cause you’re useless… the pack doesn’t need you… Scott doesn’t _need_ you… _Derek_ doesn’t need your sorry ass...” My mouth again spoke the words my mind couldn’t bear to handle and I groaned in frustration; raking my hands through my hair, I stopped watching where I was going and my foot caught on a loose root. I tumbled to the ground like a sack of shit and I couldn’t even bring myself to care; I crawled back against a tree and pulled my knees up to my face. Tears welled in my eyes and I let them spill, lip wobbling, I rubbed my fingers through my hair angrily and thrust my head back into the rough bark of the tree.

            “Stiles… stop!” An angry voice growled and I looked up through blurred eyes, scrubbing away the tears with sleeve of my hoodie. Peter’s judgemental eyes bore down on me and I stared back at him defiantly, daring him to say something. However, he did nothing of the sort; he simply watched me smiled sadly and offered me a hand. My head spun with his sudden appearance and the casual way he looked at me made my skin crawl; Peter had always been the type to have an agenda behind every good move, the ‘give him an inch, he’ll take a mile’ kind of guy. I used the tree behind me to scramble back to my feet, pressing my body tight into the rough bark. His hand dropped and his hand clasped the others wrist behind his back; he kind of looked like Derek in this position, but the casual smile on his face seemed so out of place.

            “Unlike everybody else around here, who seem to be walking on eggshells with you, I’m gonna be completely honest with you, and expect you to return that honesty, _got it_?” Peter’s face was suddenly only inches away from my own as he braced his hands against the tree, either side of my head, looking into my eyes with glowing blue eyes; I nodded quickly and ducked under his arm; he returned his hands behind his back and I watched him with great caution.

            “I’m not going to say I know how you feel, but I do know what it feels like to watch people die around you, with absolutely no way to save them. I know what you’re feeling inside, or at least, I can guess; an’ it ain’t good kid. Your little display back there told me everything I needed to know. It isn’t always easy and you can’t always block the feeling, and I see that you’ve been doing everything in your power to block it, but you’re thinking about it in the wrong way,” Peter leaned against a tree, watching me as I watched every move he made.

            “The way you have to think is that physically blocking all those memories and feelings is only temporary and you need something to ground all those bad things; it’s not a physical thing, it’s a mental thing. You’ve gotta open up that giant box in your mind and come to terms with the memories and feelings, and find something to counteract them; take an old memory or a good feeling and consume the bad within the good. Instead of mourning over the loss of old things, build new memories. I’m not claiming to know everything about this, and I’m not claiming I know what you’re going through; I’m just saying I know a few tricks to make the pain go away. Tell me something; anything the Nogitsune did while it was in you…” He looked at me kindly, an expression that did not fit well on Peter Hale’s face.

            “Uh… I remember throwing Derek across the loft like he was a dust bunny… I could feel the pure _strength_ behind the action, but I couldn’t control it… I-I tried… _so hard_ … I screamed… and I _shouted_ … I just felt… utterly powerless-” A sob raked through my chest and tears once again threatened to spill, but I held them back.

            “Okay, this is good, you need to talk about it; now, think of that pain and anger you felt, and fight against it. Find an anchor, hold tight and fight that memory; tell yourself it wasn’t you…” He watched me expectantly and I frowned, closing my eyes, I relived the memory and thought of the first anchor I could come up with; glowing red eyes flashed in front of mine and I latched onto the strong arms that encased me. Just as Peter said, I fought against the pain and the anger by using the protected feeling Derek’s arms surrounded me in; and as if a veil had been lifted, a small weight on my shoulders vanished ever so slightly. I looked up at Peter with shocked eyes; he knew he was doing something good and I could see the way his brain interpreted my sudden enthusiasm. He nodded in a random direction and began walking, expecting me to follow; I rolled my eyes and jogged to catch up with him, then slowed when I was a step behind him. His pace was slow and although he wasn’t an Alpha, the authority radiated off of him and I felt as though this was his exact aim in helping me; he wanted my trust, and with my trust, he could gain the trust of the pack.

            “So, what exactly are you planning to do?” He questioned.

            “What are you even talking about?” I stared at his back, with that stupid smug walk he always had and I sighed; sometimes I even wish I could be like Peter. He seemed so confident and hard to sway, and he didn’t let his memories ruin his current state.

            “My god…” He whispered before running a hand down his face, “What I mean Stiles, is what you are going to do in relation to your earlier revelation, and by this I mean, quote ‘do something’ unquote?” His voice was thinly patient and I frowned; what the hell _could_ I do?

            “I haven’t thought about that… probably should, huh?” I put my hands back in the pockets of my hoodie and started looking around me again.

            “Well, think about regular, mundane people, where do weak folk go to buff up?” He sneered smugly and I grinned; he may be a cocky bastard, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about sometimes.

            As more light began to pour out from in front of us, I realised Peter had walked me back to my car. Standing with the jeep’s driver side door open slightly, I nodded toward the jeep, “You need a ride somewhere?” I asked.

            “Sure, take me to my apartment,” He said as he climbed into the passenger side; I got in and slammed the door, “Do you really have to slam the door so loudly?”

            I looked over at him weirdly as I turned the key in the ignition, “Really? I’m giving you a ride and you’re commenting on how I close my door? Okay… _rude_ , but I digress, and you seem to think I have any idea where you live; you only ever told me its downtown. You aren’t very clear with your answers you know? Like Derek; always saying one thing and meaning another… really grinds my nards” I grumbled and he watched me with a raised eyebrow.

            “You done?” I nodded, “Good, just stay on this road until you get into town then I’ll tell you where to go.” He looked at the road and I began driving, bordering on the speed limit.

            “So are you actually safe to drive? You aren’t going to spaz out on me are you?” I could tell, with one tiny glance at his face that the playful twinkle in his eyes meant he was simply trying to pull on my strings; I wouldn’t let him get to me.

            Clearing my throat, I asked him, “What, uh… what gym do you think I should go to?”

            “You think _I_ know anything about gyms? I was born this perfect, but you’re a good researcher, do your research kid, and take a right here.” Peter smirked over at me and I looked between him and the road incredulously; how could he be so cocky?

            The rest of the drive to his apartment was quiet, but when we arrived outside the tall building I frowned, “Is this… is this where the Argents live?” I asked and he smirked, climbing out of the jeep.

            “I’ll have you know I lived here before they moved in,” He smiled slightly as he slammed the door and as he began walking up to the building, I leaned over and wound the window down.

            “Hey Peter…” He turned at the sound of my voice and I smiled, “thanks, for everything!” I called and he nodded, before turning and entering the building. I sighed and looked ahead; I guess I should go to school because if my dad gets another call from the principle he’ll have my ass.

            I drove to school and the lack of people told me I was late. I climbed out and grabbed my bag; I made my way through the school and to the door of my chemistry class. Do I have an excuse? No. Will I make one up? Most definitely. I spread a large smile on my face and burst through the door; Ms Young watched me jog down to my seat beside Scott but I ignored her angry stares and began pulling my books out of my bag.

            The lesson carried on and Scott nudged me, “Dude, where were you?” He whispered and I contemplated my options for this answer; do I tell him the truth, that I was with my sexy male lover’s psychotic uncle learning how to heal my pain, or do I just tell him that I slept in? I think he’d be happy to hear that I slept at all, so I went with that excuse.

            “I slept in…” Even I could feel the jump in my heart rate and I swore under my breath.

            “Fine, tell me at lunch or something.” He smiled reassuringly at me, but I knew he wouldn’t like my excuse when I finally did get to tell him.

            My classes passed by quickly until lunch came around, that’s when the stride in my step became as slow dawdle. I slumped into the only chair left at the table my friends sat at, which just happened to position me opposite to Scott, in between Isaac and Lydia. They all watched me carefully, concern in their eyes. Last night my nightmare had been short, but it was horrible; it was simply a thought that the Nogitsune had left in my head. It would have killed every single person at this table for amusement, and it had burned a thousand different ways for my friends to die in my mind. Last night, I watched through my own eyes as the Nogitsune took a machete to Scott’s limbs; I watched Scott scream and cry for me to get the Nogitsune out, but it was never enough, no matter how much I fought against it, I still watched my best friend bleed out.

            “So I guess an explanation is needed…” I trailed off, pouting my lips, I wondered how I could say this but keep them calm and happy at the same time. Allison sat on the left side of Scott and Kira sat on the right; it was strange, but as I watched Kira’s fingers entwined with Scott’s, I knew there was no awkwardness between them anymore. It was a good sign; one that gave me hopes for a lot of things.

            “Alright, the black eye is obviously from Saturday, this morning I was on my way to school… I wound myself up a little and stopped the car, I was angry, not gonna lie, I was really angry…” With my hands fiddling on top of the table, I watched the muscles move in my forearm as my fingers moved; Lydia noticed this and placed a hand lightly on my forearm.

            “I got outta the car and started walking into the woods to… I don’t know what the point of that was, but I tripped, surprise, surprise, and sat there for a while… this is where it gets weird; out of nowhere… _Peter_ comes up to me and… well, he actually helped me; he taught me how to deal with the shit pile the Nogitsune left in my mind. So then I drove him _home_ only to find out that, drum roll please…” I raised my eyebrows suggestively and Scott chuckled as he pulled his hand from Kira’s and drummed his hands on the table.

            “He lives in _Allison’s_ apartment building! He said he moved in there way before you and your dad did. So yeah, that’s what made me late this morning, so I’m sorry if I worried you at all…” I rubbed my neck nervously as I awaited their reactions.

            “Peter?” Allison question and I nodded once, “As in, _Peter_ , Peter? Derek’s psychotic uncle, Peter?” I just nodded.

            “Wow… How did I not notice that?” She asked rhetorically and I shrugged.

            It was at this point that the twins decided to make an appearance, pulling up two chairs as Aiden sat next to Lydia and Ethan sat next to Kira. They both looked around the group with curiosity in their honey brown eyes.

            “Peter lives in Allison’s building and I was late because I… broke… a little…” I sighed and stood up; standing in line for lunch with a tray in my hands, I thought about what Peter told me. He helped, that’s for sure, but there was something odd about the fact that Peter just happened to be wandering through the preserve at the exact same time as I was. Creep.

            I got an extremely large, filled burrito, a bottle of Sprite and a chocolate muffin, paid, and sat back down with my friends who already had food. Lydia looked at the burrito like with was going to bite her head off; I rolled my eyes and picked up the dripping wrap, eyeing it with love and joy. The bite I took may have been a bit too big, even for _my_ mouth, but that’s just me ain’t it; biting off more than I can swallow.

            “Your relationship with food is disgusting.” Lydia inched away from me slightly and I dropped my mouth open, revealing every chewed up morsel in my mouth; her eyes flew wide open and she crawled onto Aiden’s lap.

            Closing my mouth, I winked at her, swallowing the juicy Mexican goodness, “You’re just jealous I can look _this_ hot whilst performing in food porn,” I sniggered and she looked at me with disgust for another minute before she turned her attention to Aiden.

            The day actually passed pretty quickly, and I was ready to get home and relax. When the final bell rang, I made it to my jeep just as Scott caught up to me; as always, the concern glared down at me through the façade of his friendly, lopsided grin.

            “Do you wanna talk about what happened today? I mean, you seem better now… better than you have for a while anyway,” I looked at him with a smile. He was right; I was a total head case after everything with the Nogitsune, and then three months ago, when Derek first cornered me after a pack meeting and I kissed him, I got a bit better.  It didn’t take long for what I have with Derek to escalate, yet we still remained unlabelled. To be honest, Peter’s words were what I had been waiting for this whole time; not just comforting me, telling me that I didn’t kill people, that it was the Nogitsune. Peter gave me the truth and he told me how to fight the demons plaguing my mind.

            “It was something Peter told me in the woods; he told me how to help myself and stop expecting the pain and the guilt to just vanish after time. I mean, I appreciate _everything_ you and the pack have been doing to help me, but Peter gave me a way to deal with this. I’ve been practicing it all day in class; I haven’t been able to concentrate, but on the other hand, I don’t feel like I’m gonna subconsciously lock myself in the garage and leave the motor running,” I looked down sheepishly and before I knew it, Scott’s arms were around me like a steel vice; I returned his hug, pulling his warm body closer. Scott’s hugs always had been the best, but with the added werewolf heat and the ability to sense when I _really_ need one, his hugs had improved tenfold.

            A sudden sob wracked through my body and I clung to Scott as he tightened his hold on me; I could feel tears streaming down my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “Hey, Stiles buddy, it’s okay, we’ll get through this… we always do. So, chin up man, I’ve got a date, but I’ll Skype you later, yeah?” He waited until I released him from the hug, then grinned and skipped over to his motorbike. I hate that thing; it’s dangerous and unnecessary!

            “Chin up Stiles… chin up,” I muttered to myself and with a sigh, I climbed into the jeep and drove home. Making my way up the drive, I yawned and entered my home; the smell of pizza hit my nose and a delightful flutter in my stomach sent a smile straight to my face.

            “Dad?” I called out as I dumped my bag on the floor. Walking into the kitchen I saw my dad waiting with a beer, a glass of coke and a large pizza with a beautifully wild array of toppings.

            “Stiles,” He smiled, “How was school?”

            “It wasn’t bad actually,” I smiled back at him and sat down. We ate mostly in silence, with the odd question thrown into the mix, but as I started to stand up, picking up the empty pizza box my dad looked up at me and the look in his eyes shattered me; he was worn out, tired… exhausted. He looked almost as bad as he did when mom was sick, and I knew it was my fault.

            I sat back down and watched him carefully, “Dad, I know you worry about me, everybody does, but I want you to know that this is something I really have to do on my own; I had a talk with somebody today and I really feel like I have a chance now, okay? I really am trying dad, and I’m sleeping better now… I’m not perfect, but… for you… for everybody… for myself, I’m gonna get through this…” I stood, threw the pizza box in the trash and when I turned back to the table my dad pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back just as hard, forcing back the tears that brimmed in my eyes, “promise… I promise dad.”

            When we pulled apart, his eyes were red and I smiled at him, knowing mine were just as bloodshot. I chugged the rest of my coke, put the glass in the sink and jogged up to my room; I couldn’t remember leaving my window open, but shook the thought off as a strong body pinned me against the door. With my eyes still closed, fighting tears, I breathed in, knowing the sweet, musky scent from anywhere.

            “Derek…” My voice shook and I opened my eyes slowly, I couldn’t stop my heart from racing as his warm hands travelled from my wrists, up my arms and onto my shoulders; his hands massaged the trembling muscles there and his eyes bore into mine questioningly.

            “It’s been an eventful day…” I murmured and his mouth came down lightly on my neck, pecking, nipping and sucking until I knew there would be definite bruising; this little ‘affair’ is getting quite hard to hide, what with Derek being the type of lover that likes to mark his property.

“I know… your car smells like Peter,” His voice held an edge that I looked over; I get the tension between them, so I actually felt really bad for seeking solace in the company of Peter Hale. That didn’t mean I wasn’t thankful for the advice he gave me.

            “Are you mad at me?” I asked, sounding a little more defensive than I had intended to, but he wasn’t my boyfriend or anything; he couldn’t tell me who I could and couldn’t see.

            “Why would I be mad at you? I want to help you, I hate seeing you like this, so if _Peter_ is who you feel helps then so be it. Of course there are things he can’t do… things that _I_ can…” He trailed off as his lips found my jawline, flicking his scorching tongue across my cheek, I allowed him to pull my body over to the bed and as soon as my back hit the bed, his lips were on mine. His tongue touched my lip once, twice, three times before I granted his entrance; our tongues fought in a battle for dominance, but I had no control, I let him take over my body. His hands ran under my shirt, pulling my back off of the bed and into his body. His painfully restricted erection brushed against my thigh and a strangled moan escaped my parted lips.

Tingles ran from the crown of my head to my toes and Derek grinned against the skin of my collarbone; I knew he was breathing in the arousal that flowed from every pore in my body, although my actual arousal was pressing against his leg.

            My mouth was dry with anticipation as his own found mine again; I kissed him back with a passion that I hadn’t ever before, Derek wasn’t the kissing type, but tonight… well, tonight seemed to be about what _I_ wanted, and to prove my theory, his hands curled into my hair and tugged lightly. He’s learning; he knows things, like the way I like having my hair tugged, or how I just enjoy the feeling of his body flush with mine, fully clothed, just touching.

            I had to admit, I knew quite a few things about him too, even though we’ve only been together like this for about three months, and we’ve only been having sex for a few weeks; I knew – roughly – how to make his body tick. And he actually has the cutest orgasm face I’ve ever seen… though his is only the second face I had seen one of those expressions on.

            “What are you thinking about?” He whispered against my lips in between short, sweet pecks.

“Nothing… why?” I lied; I could hardly tell him I was thinking about how happy he made me. He made me agree we wouldn’t have to label this; he’s got a big hate for labelling things. Personally, I’m getting a little confused; I want to know what we are, but he wouldn’t allow it, I know he wouldn’t.

“Stiles I don’t understand why you still lie to me, you know very well I can tell when you are,” He pulled away from me and sat up on my lap, straddling either side of my legs with his own.

“You just won’t like what I’m thinking about, so leave it, okay? Look… I need a shower and I’ve got homework to do, you usually aren’t this talkative and right now I don’t feel like talking all that much, so unless you’re going to make yourself useful, you know where the doo- window is…” I looked away from him, just as the most heart breaking hurt puppy look appeared on his face; he climbed off of me and without a word, he slinked through the window and left running.

I felt a wave of guilt pour over me and I scooted over to the edge of the bed, throwing my head into my hands, I sighed heavily; I knew what I had to do – what I wanted to do – and I didn’t need to prolong it. The more he brooded over this the angrier he would get.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up Derek’s contact info, opting for a message, my fingers hovered over the letters for at least five minutes before I could form my thoughts into words; I sent the message before I could change my mind.

**Sorry Sourwolf, ‘m a little worked up. Everybody’s busy after school tomorrow, dad’s probably working late, come over. Please, sorry x**

I looked over the text and my jaw clenched; the kiss was a typo, I didn’t mean to send that… he’s never going to reply! I scoffed and threw the phone on my pillow, smashing my face back into my hands as incoherent mumbles left my mouth. To my astonishment, my phone chirped the message tone and I jumped on top of the phone, stabbing at the screen to open the message.

**k. x**

I stared at the message… my mouth slightly ajar as I read the message a million times over; a bubbly feeling tickled the pit of my stomach as I ploughed my face into my pillow, phone grasped tightly in my clammy hand.

            What did this mean? I didn’t care; it just meant _something_ and that’s perfectly good enough for me. I felt like I was floating on cloud nine and quite frankly, it kinda scared me.


	4. Something Serious Just Happened...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles joins the gym... he also makes a fool of himself at the gym, but Derek wont tell the pack, so it's all good.  
> Also... things change between Derek and Stiles.

After school I pulled into my driveway to see my dad locking the front door; I ran up to him with a smile and he told me he left a 20 on the kitchen counter and that he wouldn’t be back until after nine tomorrow morning. I sighed as he left and unlocked the door, making my way through the house; I sat down on my computer chair and spun around in it, waiting for the subtle click of my bedroom window closing.

His hands fell on the handles of the spinning chair, halting me with a jolt; I looked up into his searching eyes and bit back the smile that threatened to poison my lips. He rolled his eyes, and his body followed the movement as he flung his body back onto my bed; his shirt rode up slightly and the sight of his happy trail sent a quiver through the lower region of my body.

“I wanna start by saying sorry… I was the biggest asshole to you yesterday for no reason and I just need you to know that I feel guilty for taking my feelings out on you when you were trying to help… so, yeah… sorry.” I mumbled, standing slowly.

“It’s okay, I understand; apology accepted… but I owe you an apology too; I knew you just needed me to shut up and fuck you to sleep, but I pressed and I pressed and I’m sorry. I should have listened to you…” Derek’s voice was low and husky as he struggled over what he had to say; I shook my head with a light smile and lowered my knees onto the bed, straddling Derek before he could think about what I was doing. His head shot up and he watched me move up his legs to his eyelevel.

I place soft butterfly kisses across his exposed collarbone, thanking whatever gods are out there for the beauty that is Derek Hale in a v-neck tee. His hands snaked up my sides, fingertips dancing across my skin as he slipped them under my shirt; his touch shook my body and I basked in the feeling, letting it consume me with a small whimper leaving my lips.

“I love it when you talk to me…” I muttered, winding my fingers through the short hair behind Derek’s ears, I sucked and nipped at his strong neck, his stubble tickling my ear.

“And what have I told _you_ about _not_ talking?” He grumbled, I rolled my eyes and a smirk appeared on my lips as I knew exactly how to take away his grumpiness; I leaned back, sitting on his thighs and pulled him up with me. I scratched at his scalp and he raised an eyebrow.

            “What are you-” He began, but I moved my fingers from atop his head to the sides, right behind his ears and as I began to lightly scratch him his face planted into my shoulder and I felt his left leg twitch slightly under me.

            “Good boy, such a good Sourwolf…” I whispered, enjoying this a hell of a lot more than I probably should; his fingers encased my hips and a moan erupted from within me when his claws pierced my skin. I cupped his jaw with both hands and pulled him back to look at me; his eyes were fully blown, red with lust, his brow prominent against his face, scruff on his jaw lengthening along with his hair. With his canines bared at me, a twist in my stomach pushed me forward and I captured his bottom lip between mine; forcing my tongue into his mouth, he reacted instantly, flipping us around so he had me trapped under his body. His weight pressed against me and I thrust my body into his; he moved from my mouth to my neck, biting down as he sucked against my skin. I quivered and shook under the heat of his teeth and the pain only had the tent in my jeans growing.

A growl rumbled through his chest and a shallow whine left my parted lips; this was new, I’ve never had him in this form before, and it’s one of the hottest things I’ve ever witnessed. My hands worked to peel his jacket and dark red shirt away, revealing the heaving expanse of rippling muscles that was Derek Hale.

Derek Hale... my god… Derek – fucking – Hale!

“ _Fuck_ Derek!” I cried as he clawed at my shirt, ripping it directly down the middle; with one leg nestled between my thighs, his heat pressed against my hip and I tugged his head up to my own. I watched his glowing eyes as his tongue massaged my own.

            I tugged open his jeans and he froze, pulling away from me, his eyes watched me hesitantly; my body pined for him and, biting my lip, I tried with all my strength to pull him back down to me, but he was having none of it. He climbed off the bed and distanced himself, standing on the other side of my room. I watched him, hurt.

“Derek, what are you doing? Get back over here _right now_!” I scowled at him and he turned his back to me, bracing his forearms against the wall and throwing his forehead onto his fists. I scrambled off the bed and threw my torn shirt aside; I placed my fingers on his shoulders and brushed my lips across the triskele between his shoulder blades.

            “Derek please tell me what’s going on?” I whispered, kneading the thick, tense muscles in his shoulders. I didn’t want to push him, in fear of him giving up on me and leaving, but something in the back of my mind told me I had to be patient with him on this one.

“I just… I- don’t want to take advantage of you when I’m like this,” His voice was husky and sad, and the twinge of hurt in my heart sent a shiver down my spine. My hands glided slowly down to his hips, settling on his abdomen and I pressed my chin into his shoulder.

“Sourwolf, nothing you do could be taking advantage of me; I want this just as much as I _think_ you want this… I’m almost 18, I know what I’m doing. But… do you?” His breathing slowed and his arms moved away from the wall, sliding over my own, his hands resting on top of mine, lacing our fingers together. This was new, the feelings, the intimacy; he was the ‘bang ‘n’ boot’ kind of guy for the past three months, so, what’s having this effect on him?

“Stiles, this – what we’re doing – it’s not fair to you; you’re gonna go to college soon, you’re gonna busy… you aren’t going to have time for me… you’ll find someone who isn’t so completely, royally fucked up…”

“What if- what if I don’t want to find someone else… what if, for the first time in a really long time I’m happy, and it’s because of you? How about we put our clothes back on and go out… get something to eat?” I asked, giving up on the awkwardly painful bulge in my jeans; his shoulders sagged and he turned around in my arms.

            I watched as his face softened and his eyes died back down to a deep, enticing blue, luring me over to his lips; I did not force any pressure into the kiss, simply pecking across his lips, to his jaw, where his hickies were already healing.

“What do you want to eat?” he murmured, pulling out of my arms gently; I walked over to my dresser as he put his shirt and jacket back on, buttoning his jeans and belt in silence. I sighed and routed through my shirts, settling on a dark green one with random Wookie faces covering it; throwing it on, I picked a light jacket off the floor and slid into it. Last time I wore it, it wasn’t exactly so… fitted, but it still fit, so it would do.

“I’m feeling… curly fries!” I sang, grinning at him when he shook his head lightly.

“Want me to drive or what?” We walked through my house and I grabbed the $20 dad left.

“Sure, you drive, ‘d you bring the Camaro?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

            “How else would I get here?” Behind his sarcasm, I could see the faintest glimmer of fondness and I bit my lip to hide the grin that threatened to slide onto my face.

            I locked up and we got into the Camaro; I took a deep breath as I put my seatbelt on, taking in the woodsy, cherry sweet smell that was Derek Hale. He drove in silence while I fiddled with the radio, jumping between a classic rock station to an alternative-electronic kind of station. With a cold side glance from Derek, I rolled my eyes and settled on the classic rock station.

            We went through a drive-thru and while I got a large double bacon and cheese burger with two portions of curly fries, with a Vanilla Coke on the side, Derek got a large chicken salad box and a bottle of water; like the mother fucking gentleman that I am, I paid.

“Enjoy your rabbit food,” I told him when I pulled the box out of the brown paper bag on my lap; he parked in the furthest corner of the parking lot and I put his salad on the dash board for him, slotted his water into his cup holder and started on my first box of curly fries.

“You only call it rabbit food because you’re eating that… _filth_. Do you have any idea what that crap is doing to your body?” He looked at my curly fries like they were going to swallow him whole; I rolled my eyes and stuffed my mouth, happily changing the radio station back to the alterative-electronic one. An extremely happy sounding song filled the air as Derek tucked into his salad and I munched on the brilliance in my mouth.

“Here, try one! How do you know you don’t like them if you’ve never tried them?” I asked, waving an extremely long curly fry in his face; he looked unimpressed, but continued to swallow his mouthful of salad. He begrudgingly opened his mouth and I put the whole fry in there; as I pulled my fingers away, I spotted some of the sauce that was on his salad at the corner of his mouth and I leaned forward, placing my lips at the corner of his own, I licked the sauce and sat back in my seat, trying unsuccessfully to hide the blush creeping up my neck and ears.

“You automatically assume that I don’t eat them because I don’t like them, but I’ll have you know curly fries were a regular contender in my diet before I realised how bad they are for you.” He smirked at me, but I still managed to notice the slight blush dusted across the apples of his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

“Well check you out!” I grinned and he smirked.

“You do.”

“How dare you accuse me of such impurity?”

“Would you rather I accuse you of debauchery?” The playful glint in his eyes had me wanting more; I love this side of him. The side that isn’t afraid to just be himself, the side that makes me wonder what he was like before Jennifer, and Kate, and the fire; I want to know everything about him before all this bad shit happened to him. I just want to _know_ Derek Hale.

“Well no, I’d rather we were _committing_ said debauchery, but food is pretty necessary, so eat your rabbit food and we’ll have hot passionate sex when we get back to my house, and if I can still walk tomorrow, you’ll know you haven’t done your job right!” I smirked and moved on to the burger that looked absolutely divine.

“I’ll do my best…” His blush reached down his neck and watching his skin flush, I only wanted to rip off his clothes and watch that beautiful pink blush travel across his chest.

 

***

 

With quiet hesitation I stepped through the gym doors with my lacrosse bag slung over my shoulder, the hum of adrenaline and faint scent of sweat propelled me forward. I approached the glaringly masculine looking woman behind the reception desk, she smirked at me and, upon staring at her bulging muscles, my foot caught on the small step leading to the desk and the gym itself. I tumbled forward but luckily caught the lip of the desk with my fingertips. I blame my still shaky legs on a certain rough Sourwolf; I almost didn’t go to school, but he made me shower and go anyway, a suspicious limp accompanying me all day. To say my ass was sore would be an understatement; it’s just slightly more bearable after I soaked in hot water and Vaseline for an hour after school.

I tried to look at the woman as if nothing had happened but the smugness on her face said it all; she thinks I'm some stupid teenager in over his head to impress some chick with muscles. I stared back at her defiantly as I straightened myself; I leaned against the desk and fiddled with the pot of pens to my right.

"So... How do I sign up for a membership?" I asked casually, not looking at her but at the flip calendar in my hands.

"You've gotta be over sixteen, kid, you got an ID?" Her voice was amused yet completely terrifying at the same time. I pulled my driver’s licence out of my wallet and handed it to her; she looked at the short buzz cut in my licence picture to the erratic mess of hair on my head.

“Mind if I ask what happened to your eye?” She handed me the driver’s license and I slid it back into my wallet. I sighed, looking around at the encouragingly healthy posters adorning the royal blue walls.

            “It’s the reason I’m here; a girl I know punched me, I fell, hit my head, got a black eye, end of story. How much is membership?” I looked at her impatiently and she did nothing to hide her laughter.

“Depends; you want a trainer or not?” She asked with a smile and I frowned.

“No thanks.”

“Okay, that’s $15 a month for students, and I’ll need to get you to fill out one of these forms, here’s a pen, you can sit over there and fill it out.” She pointed to a row of four chairs and a coffee table situated down the step, next to a rack of health brochures; I nodded, took the clipboard and pen she handed me and sat in a chair.

The form asked the usual; name, date of birth, sex, weight, height, medical conditions and some other legal stuff I barely had the concentration to fill out. I pulled $15 out of my wallet and went back to the desk, offering the woman the clipboard and money; she read over my form and a small frown dusted her brow.

            “How- um… how do you pronounce that? Is that even a real name?” She looked at me incredulously and I rolled my eyes; I should have seen this coming.

“Just… put my name down as Stiles,” I sighed, looking at her pleadingly, hoping she’d take that and leave me alone.

“Uh, sure… no problem…” She still seemed confused, but she wrote down ‘Stiles’ anyway; she took a plastic card – credit card size – out of a drawer and wrote my name on the back of it, scanned it on her computer and handed it to me.

            “Always keep this card with you; you’ll need to scan it to get into the gym. We have a point system, basically, every time you scan into the gym or the pool you get 10 points on the card, you also get points when you shop in the store to the left here, where you can get clothes, equipment and food. You can spend those points whatever way you wish inside the building; every 100 points amounts to a dollar, you can get into the sauna or the Jacuzzi for 20 points each, and… I think that’s everything. Do you have any preferences for padlock colour for your locker?” She asked and I shook my head; she handed me a red padlock and a matching rubber bracelet with the key to the padlock firmly attached to it.

“Whatever you do, do _not_ lose the membership card or the padlock and key. Go through the door behind me and along that hallway the locker rooms will be to your right, the doors to the pool are opposite that and the gym is straight ahead. Good luck, kid.” She smiled reassuringly and I smiled back, making my way around her large desk.

            With my tongue perched between my lips, I slid the matt black card through the machine by the door; the red light turned green and I pulled the door open into a large blue and red hallway, looking very sporty and patriotic.

            I got into the men’s locker room and wandered through, averting my eyes from the many hot – and really not so hot – male bodies flaunting around the steamy room. I found a locker in the back and quickly changed into a pair of baggy grey sweat pants that were ripped into knee-length shorts long ago and a bright red tank top with ‘Stilinski’ and ‘24’ in a large white font on the back; Kira made one for me and one for Scott with his lacrosse number on it a few months ago. She’s been experimenting with a lot of things like that, so we just accept the things she makes without a fuss; it’s easier that way. I switched my sneakers for my running shoes – they’re in pretty good nick due to lack of, well, running – and I locked all of my stuff in the locker, sliding the tight rubber band around my wrist.

            I looked away for two seconds, and besides the eyeful of male genitals  my eyes caught sight of, I noticed a guy nodding his head with earphones in, which made me realise I left my own earphones and my phone in my lacrosse bag. Throwing my head back in annoyance, I turned back, got my phone and earphones and locked it up again; I kept my eyes on the ground as I made my way into the gym, I slipped the earphones in my ears and put my phone into my pants pocket as the Arctic Monkeys pulsed through my head.

            Eyes sweeping across the colossal room, adorned in clean white walls and mirrors, I had no idea what I was doing… I probably should have asked for a trainer… wow, I’m really stupid sometimes.

            Shrugging, I made my way over to a really high-tech looking row of treadmills and guessed I could start at the bottom and work my way up. I spent about half an hour on the treadmill before I could no longer breathe and I felt like Scott before he got the bite. Tipping back one of the free bottles of water, I spotted the speed bags hanging from brackets on the wall across from me; I grinned and skipped over to them, shrugging when people looked at me weirdly.

I looked at it from a couple of different angles, and although I could feel eyes on my back, I carried on my inspection; I heaved a sigh, turned up Eye of the Tiger and braced myself for a swing at the taunting red ball. When it curved away from me, I grinned, only to have to full weight of my punch to come back at me and sock me right between the eyes; feeling my weight tip away from the blow, I expected to feel the floor, only to feel a beautifully familiar chest hit my back. Hot breath wafted across my neck and his arms encased my flailing body.

            “What on earth are you doing Stiles?” The amusement in Derek’s voice should be illegal, because it had me tensing in all the right places; I jumped out of his grasp and looked at him in shock.

“I could ask you the same thing!” I looked around to see people smirking and looking smug in general as they focused on their work outs.

“I come here to work out Stiles. Are you crazy? You don’t start with the speed bags, c’mon, I’ll get you an ice pack for your head and we can talk about this… okay?” He looked into my eyes hesitantly and I nodded, following him back to the locker room, shoving my forgotten earphones in my pocket.

Derek got me an ice pack from a freezer in the locker room and sat me down on a bench in front of some lockers. I looked at him from under the ice pack and he watched me with amusement in his eyes, along with that same glimmer of fondness I heard in his voice yesterday; he bit his lip with those adorable bunny teeth, but I knew he was hiding a smile. It was obvious in the way his shoulders shook slightly.

“Sure, laugh it up, whatever! It’s my first day and I’ve already managed to hurt myself, go ahead and laugh, you jackass! But if you tell _anybody_ what you just saw, I swear I’ll… ugh,” I scoffed, at a loss of what I could do to him, besides maim, and dissect him and feed him to pigs. That sounds about right.

“Stiles, stop it, I’m not laughing; and I won’t tell anyone, just- here just let me look at it…” His fingers gently took the ice pack from my hands and he inspected my forehead, carefully wiping the sweat and melted water from the ice pack off my skin with the bottom of his shirt.

 “You know you’re in my good books for last night, but for making me go to school today, well that’s gonna take some more sexy times… lots more…” I looked into his eyes suggestively, wiggling my eyebrows; the smirk that graced his face practically already had my pants around my ankles.

His hands snaked around my waist and he pulled me onto his lap, my lips found his instantly and I laced my fingers through his hair tugging and scratching at his scalp as his tongue roamed my mouth freely. My hips rolled against his and his member jumped at the sudden contact. Disconnecting our lips, I jumped away from him, ran to my locker, got my towel, shoved my shoes and phone in and locked it; I got back to Derek and he stood with his shower gel and towel in hand, looking absolutely delectable.

I dragged him toward the showers and into the end cubicle; turning it onto its hottest setting, I pulled my shirt over my head to see Derek already working on getting his shorts off. I stripped down and threw my clothes out the way of the hot stream of water; leaving the towels on the hooks outside the cubicle, I shoved the curtain closed and Derek’s lips were on my neck, sucking and nipping at my already bruised neck.

            I shoved against Derek, pinning him to the opposite wall, taking his lips with my own, flipping the lid on the shower gel, Derek began massaging the slick liquid into my body; my own hands raked up and down his back, digging my nails into his bulging muscles. Locking a hand around his throbbing erection, I began to pump him against the hot stream of water, groaning with him when his fingers danced their way up my own leaking member.

With a shudder, I took the shower gel from Derek’s tight grasp and turned him around in a blur, pouring a good dollop of shower gel on my hands before dropping the bottle and kneading my fingers into his shoulders and back, tracing lower and lower with my slick digits.

“Stiles…” There was a warning in his voice, but I ignored it and found one curling finger at his entrance, teasing at his hole with my other hand braced against his shoulder. He leaned his forearms against the tiled wall much like he had yesterday and the muscles across his back quivered as I pushed my finger inside of him; a short whine escaped him and I turned his head around enough that I could link our lips, sucking on his tongue as I worked a shaking second finger inside, rolling against his walls and hooking around the rim as I pulled out. He thrust back onto my fingers, gasping as I introduced a third digit; he could take it, right? He’s a werewolf!

With my lips still on his, I removed my massaging fingers and he growled into my mouth; I chuckled and took his pulsing length with one hand and directed my own with the other hand. I had watched enough porn to know what I was doing, regardless to this being my first time being the pitcher and not the catcher with Derek, so I swirled my throbbing erection around the ripples of skin around his hole, clamping my teeth down on Derek’s bottom lip as he moaned into me.

I pushed the tip inside and his legs shook, spreading wider slightly as I stroked his leaking length. “Are you okay? Tell me if you want me to stop…” I whispered, taking one of his hands and lacing our fingers together; he kissed me with such force and reassurance that I pushed deeper inside of him, inching forward as our breaths mingled together under the scalding stream of water.

Burying myself in Derek’s red hot cavity, I pulled out slowly, earning a moan, a moan laced with my name, not ‘Stiles’, but _my name_ , and that was all it took for me to surge forward, thrusting into Derek with a vengeance; I needed to hear my name on his lips again.

I bore no mercy as I pulsed inside of him, slipping out again in quick, fluid motions, squeezing and tugging on Derek as he whimpered under my weight; he seemed so small, yet so perfectly _Derek_ at the same time. With our entwined fingers pressed into his abdomen, I pounded in and out, a rhythm building as I pumped Derek to the thrust of our hips.

“ _Fuck_!” He groaned, breathing my name across my own lips; I thrust harder, pulling out of him quickly, only to fill him with my length without waiting. I needed him, I thirsted for him, I needed him to be mine, and this, this _gift_ that he was giving me proved exactly that; I was his, now he is mine.

It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but as my load erupted inside of him and he covered my fist with his cum, I moaned for him, at the top of my lungs, completely forgetting our public location as my legs became numb and my entire body shook; Derek panted, my chest heaving in sync with his back. I slid out of him, limp and spent, and turned him around; his barely open eyes watched me with that same fondness from before, only intensified by 10. His parted lips dripped with water and I captured them with my own, hands around his neck within seconds as he kissed me back; my hands danced through his wet hair and I grinned into the kiss.

Happiness pulsed through me and I pulled away to see that same happiness in his glowing red eyes; I washed our bodies with Derek’s shower gel, and wrapped his towel around his waist. He was spent, I could see it in his eyes, in his body language; I had Derek Hale in the palm of my hand, and as I wrapped my own towel around my waist, all I wanted to do was kiss him to my heart’s content. Which is exactly what I did after turning the water off; we kissed until we were both flushed and panting. The look in his eyes, the hold he had on my hips, I couldn’t help my own thoughts; I couldn’t handle the feelings that coursed through every vein in my body. I needed this man in my life, in my tomorrow, in my future; in me. I had been trying to hide how much I liked him, but how could I? After what we just shared? That wasn’t just a casual fuck; I just made _love_ to _Derek Hale_.

And there wasn’t a bone in my body that would say otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy that smut? Hah! I love bottom!Derek to be honest, and I hope you do too, because it's not like I'm gonna completely inundate the story with bottom!Derek, but there will definitely be more of it :D  
> Anyway, thank you so very much for reading, and if you could give me a little kudos, it'd really propel me forward to write more. I have actually written up to chapter 7, but chapter 8 is very dry and... I cant give away any spoilers, but it's just kinda factual. 'Nuff said!


	5. This is where it gets interesting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the title says, this is were the big plot line comes in, and this plot line will lead to pretty much EVERY decision Stiles makes for his future, so yeah...

To have my dad eat dinner with me on a Thursday night was pretty awesome, and watching a Mets game was an added bonus, but as with all nights I get to spend with my dad, it was only a matter of time before something interrupted our time together.

His cell phone rang and I sighed, sliding further into the couch.

“Parrish, what’s the problem?”

I watched the TV, muting it so my dad could hear Deputy Parrish, but really, I just wanted to listen in on the conversation; it’s times like these where some super-human werewolf hearing would benefit me greatly.

“A 451, where? I’m on my way,” My dad’s voice was urgent and my ears perked up; I was fluent in Police Code by the time I hit 9, something of which my mom was not happy about.

This was arson, and my nerves had my foot beating furiously against the floor as I tried to keep my eyes on the game; I wanted to look at my dad, but I knew he’d know what I was thinking the second I looked at him.

“Right, Thompson drive; I can be there in ten, uh-” He glanced wearily at me before finishing, “Fill me in when I get there.”

He hung up and stood quickly, I clamped down on my jaw and looked up at him casually; he took one look at my questioning face and sent me a suspicious, warning glance before sighing.

            “Listen, Stiles, I probably won’t be back tonight; ‘m sorry, I really am, but I just need you to stay here and get some rest okay? If you need me, call my cell, I’ll try to pick up but I can’t promise too much. Love you, son.”

“Love you too, dad,” I smiled, standing to walk over to the front door; he ran upstairs and look less than five minutes to get his beige uniform on, he ruffled my hair on his way out the door and I closed the door after he drove off.

Shoving some sneakers on, I put on a jacket and left through the back door, just to be safe, and get into the jeep, looking down at my phone, I contemplated calling Scott but shook my head; whatever it is I’m about to do, I could do it on my own. I need to do it on my own.

I drove to the block down from where the fire took place and peaked around the corner of a building to watch the fire trucks putting out the fire quickly, the building was a small Starbucks on the ground floor with two floors of apartments above it. I waited at least twenty minutes before the fire was completely out, sneaking closer to hear what the firemen and my dad, and his deputies had to say about the fire. Several soot-blackened victims and witnesses were being seen to by paramedics or driven to the hospital in ambulances; the Starbucks was closed for the night, so the people obviously all lived in the relatively old-but-restored building.

One guy was burnt with third degree burns and when my dad looked at him, he didn’t look too optimistic; that guy was rushed to the hospital immediately but even I knew his chances of surviving that kind of pain was close to none.

My dad decided that anyone fit to give a statement would be taken down to the station, the others would be questioned after the doctors gave them the ‘OK’. He also told his deputies that an investigation would be staged tomorrow morning when they’d have a little daylight on the situation.

I ran back to my jeep as the scene disbanded, yellow crime scene investigation tape had been crossed across the front and back doors to the Starbucks; grabbing the small flashlight out of the glove box in the jeep, I threw my hood up and snuck across the street, keeping an eye around me. The street was strangely empty, but then again, it is almost half twelve-forty-five, and it’s a Thursday night; otherwise known as a school night.

I stood at the back of the building, surveying ways to get in; the emergency escape seemed like the easiest way, due to the back door being locked. I slowly pulled down the ladder, wincing as it creaked and whined; taking every rung slowly, I got to the first small, metal landing. Pulling my sleeves over my fingers, I jiggled the window opening to a hallway and it jolted open, not opening nearly as much as I would have hoped for; I struggled through the window and planted my feet safely on the charred floor.

The whole building groaned and creaked as I took careful steps forward, balancing my weight as evenly as possible. All of the apartment doors had been opened and there only seemed to be three apartments on each floor; I looked gingerly through all six apartments but I had no idea what I was really looking for. For all I knew it wasn’t arson, just an accidental fire, of course the only person I could have consulted was probably in his loft, being all sexy and casual.

I was in the last apartment on the top floor when something caught on me, but a threatening creak shuddered through the building and I partly ran back into the hallway; as I walked through the hallway, my flashlight looking around at the blackened walls the floor beneath me shook slightly and my feet froze, panic creeping upon me as the shudder of the floor rumbled up my shaking legs. With my flashlight held tightly in shaking hands across my chest, I tried to lift a foot, only to hear an even louder groan from the floor and another shake quaked under my feet.

My chirpy ringtone decided to scare the absolute crap out of me, and before I could jump around and kill myself or something, I pulled my phone out and ‘Dad’ flashed across the screen’ I shakily slid my finger across the screen and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Yo…” My voice shook and I closed my eyes tightly, groaning internally.

“Everything okay there, Stiles?”

“Yep, just fine… just, uh- peachy, kickin’ back with an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix, might crack open a beer…”

“You will not, Stiles, listen I definitely won’t be back tonight, probably won’t see you ‘til after school tomorrow, ‘m sorry… see ya’, son.”

“Fine! Whatever; less than a month ‘til I’m legal anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, don’t work _too_ hard! I’ll swing by with lunch if you want?” The conversation was calming my heartbeat, which I was extremely grateful for.

“That sounds good, but I won’t have time; I’ve got a lot of people to question and other stuff to do, I really am sorry, I’ll make it up to ya’, promise. Bye.” I returned his ‘bye’ and he hung up; I sighed and looked around the floor, having only one way of not dying.

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to just clear my mind; with squinting eyes, I kept my eyes forward and ran for it, barely registering the ground caving in behind me. I got to the stairs leading down and looked back to see a meter-squared patch of the floor fallen through, gulping, I ran down the stairs and made a quick get-away, pulling my body through the small window and clattering to the uncomfortable metal balcony. I felt for my body, making sure I was still on once piece, and quickly shut the window, again covering my fingers with the sleeves of my jacket. I tugged off my shoes, knowing they would be covered in soot and all sorts.

Running as sneakily as I could back to the jeep, my chest constricted and I grasped the flashlight to my chest, trying to ground myself, but it wasn’t helping; my breathing was rushed and panicky. Worst time and place to be having a god damn panic attack!

I slid down the door of the jeep and landed on my ass, pulling at the collar of my shirt; I thought about my dad, and Scott, and the pack, I thought about Derek, thought about anything that could possibly ground my speedy breathing.

What I just did was a mistake. A terrible, horrible mistake; a mistake I could be arrested for. That was disruption of a crime scene; I could go down for this. I don’t know how sympathetic my dad could be on this one. This was bad; very fucking bad.

I clambered into the jeep and drove to Derek’s loft; I don’t know why I ended up parked in the loft’s parking lot, but I did, and I wasn’t just going to sit there like an idiot. I got into the elevator and my foot tapped impatiently as my fingers drummed against my thigh; I jumped out of the elevator when it stopped and as I raised my fist to knock, the door slid open enough to reveal Derek looking confused and slightly worried.

He took in the panic on my face – and probably the erratic beat of my heart – and his arms engulfed me in a warm embrace. I shook in his arms and returned his hug; this is why I came here, it was the safe, secure feeling I felt in his arms. Derek was a safe place for me, because as unreliable as Derek Hale is, I could still trust him to be there when I _really_ needed him.

“You smell… like fire…” Derek’s words shocked me away from his touch; I looked at him and the strained look on his face had me grasping at his cheeks, pulling him into a long, soft, meaningful kiss. I shook my head as I pulled away, softening my expression as much as I could.

“No, no, no, I wasn’t the one in the fire… don’t- I mean, no… I just… I’m a bad person, I just did something very bad and I can’t take it back, and I just- please don’t hate me, I hate myself enough as it is!” As I rambled on, he pulled me into the loft, closed the door and sat me down on the couch; I kept going until I felt his fingers lace through mine. Looking down at our entwined fingers on my leg, a smile broke across my face and I looked up into the deep, thoughtful eyes I wished I could look into forever; his face was expressionless but his eyes said everything. He was curious, worried and slightly on-edge.

“Stiles, do you wanna tell me what happened?” He held my gaze, grazing my jaw with his free hand.

“There was a fire in town and my dad got called down to it, so naturally, I got curious and followed him. Everybody left so witnesses could be questioned and I went in to take a look at what happened and I’m pretty sure I almost died but I got out of there and now I realise how fucking stupid that sounds… why would I even consider doing that? What the hell was I thinking? I’m such an idiot…”

“What? Are you hurt? I- you- what the hell, Stiles?” His eyes raked over my body and I sighed, shaking my head.

“Derek I’m fine, physically at least, I just don’t know what to do, I don’t know why I came here and dumped this crap on you… I’m sorry I shouldn’t do this to you, I’m gonna go…” I tried to push myself off the couch but he held me still and pressed small kisses along my jaw, soothing the furious beat of my heart.

“You aren’t going anywhere…” He whispered in my ear, before grazing my earlobe with his teeth.

“Yes, sir.” I shuddered.

“So do you think it was arson or just an accident?”

I knew how much of an awkward subject this was for him, I knew the smell that seemed unbearably strong even to my nose was bringing him bad memories, yet he still wanted to be with me, to touch me, and even better; he wanted to talk about it.

I could certainly get used to this side of Derek.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t really tell, the charring on the walls… it was strange, it’s like there was a pattern to it, or- ugh, something- I don’t know it just didn’t seem right. I don’t- can we not talk about it right now, I don’t feel too good…” I murmured and he pulled back to look at me again, worry etched across his face again; I attempted for a smile but I’m pretty sure it was a massive failure, because he simply pulled me into his arms and flicked both of our legs onto the couch. He flicked on the TV and handed me the remote, silent as ever.

“Stiles… where are your shoes?”

“Oh, um… I had to take them off, you know, I didn’t want my prints leading away from the crime scene… I guess I didn’t really think about putting them back on…” I shook my head absentmindedly and flicked through the channels, stopping on a documentary about the megalodon shark; don’t know what that is? Do yourself a favour and look that shit up.

I must have spent at least two and a half hours just sitting watching TV before Derek walked me down to my car, telling me I needed rest for school; he’s starting to sound like my dad… weirdo.

I reluctantly left and went home. The house was silent, as per usual, and I didn’t even bother turning on any lights; just locked the door behind me and made it up to my bedroom. I took off my jacket and shirt and as I was unbuttoning my jeans, I noticed a piece of dark cloth snagged near my thigh.

I cautiously pulled it off by the corner with a shirt covering my hand, and lifted it to my face; it was a dark blue-purple piece of a very thick material and it reeked of… gasoline. A slow grin crept across my face and I fist pumped the air; I knew it! I just knew I wasn’t going crazy… again; I knew I wasn’t just piecing together imaginary evidence or imagining things that weren’t actually happening. The rag was real, the smell was strong, and so was my determination.

Placing the fabric carefully in a zip-lock plastic bag and wrapping that in a random shirt lying on the ground, I shoved it in my school bag, ready to ask Lydia about it tomorrow; if there’s anyone I know that can figure out what’s on that rag it’s _the_ Lydia Martin. I finished undressing but sleep was harder to grasp than I wanted it to be; I needed to be fresh headed and calm for all the thinking that was in store for me tomorrow.

 

***

 

I woke up giddy and unable to think about anything but the small rag in my school bag; I chugged down two Adderall pills with a can of Monster I had to sneak past my dad. He banned energy drinks in this house a long time ago, but I have my ways… enter maniacal laugh with some crazy Peter eyes… yeah, energy drink and Adderall; great combo!

I threw on some khaki pants and a Mets jersey, shoving my feet into red sneakers; I felt good, like, really good. I grinned the whole way to school and I grinned my way to my locker; I was early and very few people littered the hallways, signalling my eagerness.

“Stiles?” A beautiful strawberry-blonde haired girl asked, surprised and I closed my locker with a smirk.

“Mooorniiing Lydiaaaa!” I sang, grinning.

“Okay, I’m going to ignore how creepy you’re being and ask why you’re so early? I’ve never seen you early for school before? What’s going on? How much Adderall have you taken today?” I rolled my eyes at her questions, throwing my whole body into the motion.

“I’m here early because I have a reason, I took two today because you know what? I damn well _felt_ like it! And lastly, I need your help, seeing as you’re super smart and talented and beautiful.” I grinned again and she looked at me weirdly but rolled her eyes and the question in her eyes was ‘what do you need?’ but her body said ‘get me away from this creeper’.

“Look, there was a fire last night, and I went into the building after the authorities left and did some investigating, almost died, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is the rag in my school bag; I need you to take a look at it and see what the wet substance is on it and I need your answer ASAP! Like, I need you to tell me what’s on it, like, yesterday!” I breathed heavily and a smirk found its way onto her pouty lips.

“And what do I get out of this?”

“Uh… the satisfaction of knowing you helped me solve a possible arson case making Stiles a very happy boy…?” I looked at her hopefully, trying out that whole ‘holy-shit-I’m-a-cute-little-harmless-puppy-with-big-fat-puppy-eyes’ thing that Scott had perfected long before he knew the effect it had on everyone.

“Hmm… I’m not going to do this for you; I’m going to do this because I’m curious and _you_ are going to keep me updated on the _whole_ investigation, got it?” Her hard look had me shrinking back, feeling small and insignificant; the way she always kind of made me feel, like the pit of my stomach might just erode away with one look from this strawberry-blonde Goddess.

“Awesome! Fantastic! Great! Uh- here’s the rag; I didn’t touch it, I swear!” I fumbled through my bag and pulled out the shirt covering the zip-lock bag, handing it to her, she looked unimpressed and I frowned; what could possibly be wrong _already_?

“Stiles, what is this dry, white substance on your shirt?” Her pouted lips were turned into a grimace and I ripped the shirt from her immediately, taking the bag and handing it to her; I shoved the shirt into my school bag and if a blush crept up my neck and ears and covered the apples of my cheeks; I did not pay it any attention. I looked at my shoes and waited for the embarrassment to dissipate… it did not.

“Sorry… um, I’ll stop wasting your time; listen Lydia, I don’t need to tell you of all people how important this is to me. I’m- I’m the only _talentless_ person in our ‘pack’ and I just… I need to do something- something to prove I’m not completely useless, y’know?” I looked up at her from behind thick lashes and she looked at me with something crossed between pity and knowing.

“I’ll get right on this, should have it back before the end of the day. Goodbye, Stiles.”

“Bye Lydia… thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She looked taken-aback, but she took off, stalking down the hall in unnecessarily high heels; I smiled after her and sighed, leaning against the locker next to my open one. Looking at the shirt, I knew it was from at least a week ago; I was lonely and out of tissues.

 I looked around at the slowly building population around me and grinned; someone should be here for me to annoy soon.

That person just happened to be _two_ people, in the form of the gorgeously hot gay couple I liked to call Danny and Ethan; I grinned at them and slammed my locker, making my way over to their love parade.

“Howdy fuckin’ doody!” I cried, holding my hand up for high fives; they reluctantly slapped my raised hand with looks on their faces that told me they’d rather be hitting my face.

“You’re in a disastrously good mood, should we be scared?” Danny asked and I rolled my eyes dramatically.

“No! I’m just happy to see my favourite couple _ever_! You know you two are _way_ cuter together than Allison and Scott… and Kira and Scott… basically you’re just cute as a button together! Please do tell me, where’s Aiden these days?” I asked randomly.

“He went to look for Lydia… why?” Ethan watched me hesitantly.

“Oh no… he can’t find Lydia… no, no, no… no, that can’t happen! She’s… busy- I gotta find him, oh crap…” I tried to leave but Danny took my shoulders in his hands and looked down at me with his eyebrows touching his hairline.

“You are _not_ going to cockblock Aiden, Stiles. Just chill out, okay? Jeez, how much Adderall did you take this morning?” Danny straightened my posture and held my chin firmly; he stared me down until I had to look away.

“Oh- my god, you’re seriously gonna ask that too? What do you people take me for?” I pulled out of his grasp and rubbed my chin begrudgingly.

“Hey guys… what’s wrong with him?” Isaac asked as he joined us in the middle of the hallway, Allison stood behind him, dimples showing in her smile; I smiled back at her and shoved my fingers in my pockets.

“Nothing is wrong with me, nothing more than usual anyway; everybody just keeps accusing me of being _too_ happy. I mean what the hell? Can’t a guy just be happy? And maybe a little hopped up on energy drinks…” I trailed off, looking at the ground guiltily.

“Sure, whatever, don’t care. Wouldn’t you all rather see him creepily ecstatic than morbidly depressed?” Isaac looked at them pointedly and I sighed, walking past them to greet Scott, who was bounding up the hallway to catch up to us; I grinned and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Sup bro, where’s Kira? She’s normally somewhere near you nibbling on her cute little fingers with her cute little mouth, wearing those cute little outfits…” My words faded at the strange look Scott was giving me; I grinned and ran a hand through my already messy hair.

“Sorry, um, I’m just- I don’t know, feeling the love? I love how you guys are together; it’s a lot different to how you and Allison were… the sexual tension was unbearable but with you and Kira it’s just so… foxy! Haha, get it? No…? Okay… sorry…” I sighed and shook my head, hands on my hips and I contemplated what was wrong with me; needless to say Scott had not laughed at my joke, though I found it absolutely hilarious.

 “Kira is…” he looked down at his phone quickly, “pulling into the parking lot as we speak, so either come with or I’ll see you in class…?” He left the question open as he walked away and I squinted at him, contemplating both options.

I shook my head and headed back to my locker, getting my books for AP Math; I bounced to class with an enthusiasm I wouldn’t usually have. I hadn’t been in my right mind when I picked that damn subject, but I was still pretty good at it when I could actually concentrate on what was being said.

I sat in the middle, next to Danny as usual and waited for Lydia to arrive and sit in front of me. With a second to kill, I took my notebook out and began sketching with a pencil I dug from the depths of my bag; it was chewed on and kinda small for my hand, but I sketched on, not thinking about what it was I was drawing, just throwing out some lines and shading.

I continued sketching through the whole class, seeing a face emerge from the shades of grey on my page. When the bell rang distantly, I sat back from my crouched position over the page and my eyebrows shot into the sky; it was without a doubt, beautiful, but I had a hard time believing I actually drew it myself.

It seems Danny thought so too, as he leaned over and snorted, “Is that Derek?”

A blush covered my face and neck and I roughly shoved the notebook back into my bag and stuck the pencil behind my ear.

“No. Why would it be? Drop it Danny… please.” I grumbled and threw my bag over my shoulder; I ran from the class, with lack of better words and just about made it to the quietest hallway I could find.

I was getting myself caught up in a man who didn’t want anything more than sex and I could do nothing to stop the whirlwind of emotions that were stirring inside my whole body; I wanted more, and I tried to tell myself that I could be an adult about this, that I could keep what I had with Derek completely neutral, but that stupid, pathetic, niggling fear of rejection in the back of my head told me that I couldn’t. I needed _more_ but I had no idea how to go about getting that from Derek.

“Are you okay, Stiles?” Danny asked behind me and I turned, looking at him with tears streaking down my face; I hadn’t noticed the tears falling, but now that I had, I couldn’t get them to stop.

“C’mere…” Danny simply pulled me into his thick chest, rubbing circles into my back. His touch was soothing, but it was not the touch that I longed for.

“You don’t have to say anything; I’m just going to assume this has something to do with that picture you drew, and I’m gonna give you the notes from class ‘cause it’s obvious you weren’t taking any notes yourself. You know… if there’s anything you want to talk about… stuff you don’t want to talk to Scott about, I’m all ears, I don’t judge,” He pulled away from me and smiled, dimples in plain sight; I couldn’t resist the grin that spread across my lips. Damn Danny and his fucking attractiveness and charm.

“Not right now, I don’t even know what’s going on right now, and I’ve got some things I need to do before I start thinking about anything like… _that_ , but I will take you up on that offer, I promise. We’ve gotta get to class, but I really do appreciate the offer Danny, it means a lot.” He waved me off as I jogged to my next class; Danny took a more casual walk to his class, whereas I ran to English Lit.

The rest of the day was uneventful, even lunch was calmer than usual, but it was a nice kind of calm; the kind of calm you could really get used to. But then came the final bell, and with it came a frightfully interested Lydia Martin; she shoved me against my jeep and pressed the zip-lock bag against my chest.

“This fabric is completely doused in propanone, or the household name would be acetone; it’s highly flammable and can be found in nail polish remover, paint thinner or a lot of different household cleaners in general. The fabric’s just a simple, damask curtain, again, easily flammable. Now that we know that, you better tell me _exactly_ what you’re on to,” Her green eyes bore into mine, again making me feel like a four year old in front of this majestic woman.

“The fire was on Thompson, the apartments above Starbucks; my dad was questioning witnesses all night and I’d say they’re still sweeping the building with forensics to see what caused the fire. Now, this rag just caught on my jeans when I was in there, I only noticed it when I got home and my first thought was to bring it to you to get it examined. I don’t know _exactly_ what it is I’m on to, but I’m pretty damn sure it’s arson; I need to get more info from my dad and do some research, but as soon as I catch wind of _anything_ I’ll call or text you okay?” I watched her carefully and she backed away, expression returning to neutral, and I took the zip-lock bag; I put it in my school bag and got into the jeep, all the while keeping an eye on Lydia.

She watched me drive away with that calculating look in her eyes and it sent a shiver down my spine.

I got home in record time without breaking too many speeding limits and I got straight to work on the blank wall I usually solved my problems on; I pinned the zip-lock bag to the wall in the top left corner and worried at my bottom lip.

This would take a lot more research and stolen evidence, but it kind of felt worth the trouble. I spent a good three hours printing and highlighting blueprints and tenant information before my dad got home, and I rushed to meet him downstairs because one thing was for sure; he couldn’t see my new project. He’d stop me instantly.

We got to eat some Chinese take-out before his eyes started drooping and I had to literally force him into his bedroom; he had brought a shit-tonne of files and witness testimonies home with him and as my father’s snores kept me on edge, I photocopied every little piece of evidence I could while he was out cold.

Was I breaking the law? Sure.

Did I care? Not really.

            Was I getting a strange tingling excitement in the pit of my stomach as my makeshift ‘case board’ quickly filled? Yes, yes I was.

            And did I care that I could currently only see red string crossing everywhere on the board? No, because I believed in one thing, and that was my ability to do it; I needed to do this.


	6. Those three words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The packs' futures' are revealed!  
> The pack have questions.  
> Stiles' brain to mouth filter doesn't work very well.

            I sat in my computer chair, bouncing back and forth as I chewed the inside of my cheek, staring up at my case board; I had happily spent every minute since I woke up in my room on a freakin’ Saturday at eight-fifteen to think about this case. I wanted to say I had more colour than red, but to the exception of some yellow string, everything still remained unsolved.

It was at about eleven-thirty my dad called up to me, saying he brought breakfast with him; I sighed and jumped off the chair, shaking my head at the board. I looked down at my jeans and no-shirt combo, thinking it was wise to throw on a shirt.

When I got to the kitchen, I saw my dad’s nifty police work splayed across the table, amidst the papers was a large box of assorted donuts and two extremely large coffee cups; I took the one marked to have sugar in it and stuffed a powdered donut in my mouth. I looked over my dad’s shoulder and sipped at the black coffee; some of the powdered sugar on my donut sprinkled across the shoulder of his black tee and he looked up at me unimpressed.

I smiled sheepishly and finished the donut quickly; he always got the assorted twenty-four box when he had a tough case ahead of him, and I knew he needed them to stay focussed, like a ritual almost. So I didn’t complain about the sugary treats… too much.

As my eyes roamed the papers, they fluttered over something that didn’t quite add up; I picked up the blueprints of the first floor and two of the witness testimonies, to my dad’s great annoyance and swatted his fingers away when he went to take them from me. This was the small clue that I had needed; it hit me like a fish across the face and I grinned, biting my lip as I lay the papers directly in front of my dad.

“Here, look, your tenant list over here,” I pointed to a piece of paper under his left elbow, “indicates that a woman called… Leanne Hark lives in apartment 1C, now it says on the alibi that said tenant was not at the scene when you arrived and there was nobody found in that apartment. This testimony wasn’t here last night – I’m sorry, I admit I took a little peak, but I’m not really sorry – so you must have got it sometime this morning?” He nodded, weary eyes looking up at me.

“Parrish called her in for a statement yesterday evening.” He confirmed and I nodded slowly to myself, tongue sticking between my lips as I thought.

“Leanne Hark’s testimony states that she was out of the building by 9 o’clock that night and she did not return to the building at all, when tenant… 2B stated to have seen her enter the building at nine-twenty while they were unchaining their bike in the small entry hallway of the apartments before leaving; she seemed ‘neutral’. If you look… here,” I pulled over another testimony and my eyes ticked over tenant 2C’s statement, “2C states that over _twenty_ _minutes_ later they could hear movement from below in Hark’s apartment before it went completely quiet. The fire started in 2C’s apartment, right? Due to the gas being left on-” My dad cut me off here with a pointed look.

“You shouldn’t know all this; how right would I be if I said I think you took more than just a ‘little peak’ at all this while I was asleep?”

“Well… depends… am I, or am I not going to get in trouble judging by how ‘right’ you think you are?” I looked pointedly at the papers in front of us and took a long chug of sugary coffee.

“ _Stiles,_ ” His voice had a hard edge; he was no longer using his ‘dad’ voice, but his ‘Sheriff’ voice. “This is government information, and no matter how much you think you just _helped_ , you’ve really gotta stop looking at my case files; it’s illegal and you know it is. Now, I know that with you knowing the story behind the Hale fire, you want to prove this as arson, but you have to look at it from my point of view; nobody died and there is solid proof that this is purely the mistake of a guy who didn’t turn the gas off… can’t you just leave it to the authority for _once_?” He asked rhetorically, exhaustion showing on his face; I sighed, defeated, and shot him an awkward smile. I became a scared little 7-year-old Stiles when my dad used his ‘Sheriff’ voice and I resented the effect that it would probably always have on me.

I silently went back up to my room, but made sure he heard the heavy slam of my door; my eyebrows shot up to my hairline when I noticed the man standing in front of my case board, interest in his posture.

“Hey Sourwolf,” I shook my head at my open window and took a seat in my computer chair again, admiring the view of his wide shoulders in a dark grey-brown Henley and those menacingly tight black jeans.

“Stiles… this is quite impressive, but what does the yellow mean?”

“Oh, uh, yellow is yet to be determined.”

“And red?” He turned to me and a blush crept up my neck and ears; I looked over his shoulder at the mostly red board.

“Unsolved… although I do have some new info I gotta put up there and I think I’m really on to something; I probably won’t be much fun today, got my imaginary cape and pipe out, and I don’t see them going away very soon. You can go if you want, I won’t be offended, or you can find something to do while I Sherlock this bitch.” I smiled at him briefly and stood up, taking a black Sharpie up to the board with me; I bit the cap off and stuck it on the top end of the marker.

I began scribbling on the tenant list and on the blueprints, replacing some red yarn with the blue; I didn’t want to get my hopes up by using the green, knowing nothing was set in stone yet, but I knew I was right to be suspicious of Leanne Hark.

            I paused, frowning, remembering my company; I turned around looking around my room to see Derek on my bed, reading happily and I had to take a second to admire the way his right hand curled around the bottom of the spine, holding the book open, or the way his left hand tapped along to an unheard melody with strong fingers, drumming against his thigh.

He noticed me staring and set the book face down on the bed, looking up with questioning eyes; the smallest trace of a smile was evident on his lips and I smiled happily.

“I’m sorry, I’m a terrible socialiser under the influence of a good case; it’s hard to stop when it’s all so interesting, although… there is something else here that I’d much rather be investigating…” I trailed off, smirking as he shook his head fondly; I tossed my Sharpie aside and ran to my bed, jumping quickly onto his lap.

I straddled his waist and his hands snaked up my thighs, resting lightly on my hips as I laced my fingers into the fluffy tufts of hair at the nape of his neck; pressing my lips to his, I waited for him to stop me and begin fucking my brains out, but it never came. He embraced my kiss and our mouths stayed closed; I nibbled on his bottom lip and Goosebumps rose across his skin.

“Your dad’s coming…” Derek whispered against my lips and as my heartbeat spiked, he was quickly sliding off the bed and slinking out the window with a sly wink; I fell face down in the pillows and listened as my door was pushed open.

“Stiles…?” My dad’s hesitant voice asked and I knew I couldn’t turn my body around due to the boner teasing against my sweatpants.

“Yes dad?” I grumbled into the pillow and his footsteps echoed off the floor.

“This… is pretty impressive, but-”

“But it’s illegal, I know, dad,” I recited, turning my face to look at him, gasping a lung-full of oxygen; he stood at my case board and I watched him carefully.

“You’re never going to learn, are you?” He glanced over at me and I shook my head lazily.

“Listen, son, I want to say I believe it’s arson, but to be honest, the insurance companies will be just as happy to accept that it was an accident and move on; I know it’s not the way the law should work, and it sucks, but it’s the logical way around this… I’m sorry, Stiles,” I smiled up at him and he moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge as I tucked my arms under my head, propping myself up to look at him while keeping my pelvis pressed into the bed.

“I’m not going to stop, dad; no matter how long it takes… I _need_ to get this one. Looking over this the past two days, I’ve realised how addictive it is… I wanna do this for the rest of my life dad; I want to _help_ people.” He smiled at me knowingly.

“And how do you want to go about that? And what does this case have to do with this?” He looked genuinely interested and I figured any form of boner I once had would have given up and gone home by now; I turned around and leaned against the headboard.

“I need to solve this case to prove to myself that I can do this, without the help of some supernatural creature who can just point me to the answers, and I wanna go to the Police Academy, like you did; you always tell the best stories about your time there, so I just thought… why not?” I grinned at him; I had been mulling over the idea for a while, but actually saying the words out loud had the appeal of my plan multiplying. I kind of always knew I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps, but his unsure expression had me worrying at my bottom lip.

“Stiles, I don’t think you should limit yourself by going straight to the Academy; you’re a really smart kid and I personally think you should go to college and see how you feel about the Academy after that. Of course, it’s your decision, but I’d rather you at least _try_ college. It’s getting pretty close to decision time, right? You thought of anything other than the straight path to the Academy?” The animated glint in my eyes had me replying quickly with just as much enthusiasm.

“Well, I was thinking of researching some Criminology courses if you didn’t agree to the Police Academy thing, and yeah, I’ll have to start applying to colleges soon… that’s scary… I guess I should maybe focus on that when it’s obvious I’m only investigating to answer my own suspicions…” I looked down at my fumbling hands.

“You do that, take your mind off all this; you’re a seventeen year old, it’s not your job to be this grown up, Stiles. You need to be out experiencing things that normal teenagers do, not investigating possible arson cases, and running around with a dictionary of magical creatures isn’t exactly _normal_ either…” He shook his head at that one, oblivious to the magical creature that he had literally just cockblocked, and who was still probably waiting outside my open window.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t exactly a normal kid in the first place; I just attract the strange and unusual,” I grinned and my dad’s hand fell down on my knee.

“Stiles, you _are_ the ‘strange and unusual’.”

I grinned, “Great, I felt really productive this morning, now all I wanna do is watch Beetlejuice! Thanks for that!”

“You’re welcome, son.” He heaved himself off the bed and made his way over to the door, “I suggest you watch the movie, and then research that course; it’ll be good to get a little normality into you.” With that, he was gone; I jumped up and closed the door, snapping the lock closed.

Derek slid back through the window, rolling his shoulders slightly as I brought my laptop over to the bed; getting into the movie mode, I closed the window and shut the curtains, then hurried downstairs to make some sweet popcorn. I knew there was no need to explain to Derek; he heard every word of that conversation.

When my bedroom door was securely locked, I took the large bowl of popcorn over to where Derek lay on my bed, ankles crossed with the laptop on the bed beside him. He lifted the laptop with one hand and tucked me under his other arm; I snuggled closer, balancing the popcorn in the middle as he pressed play on Beetlejuice, a movie I hadn’t seen in forever.

Derek’s arm held me closely throughout the movie, only moving when I fidgeted into a comfier position every now and then; as the dinner party played on screen, I watched in wonderment as laughter danced across Derek’s face and I had to cover his mouth with my hand, gesturing downwards wildly as a warning about my dad still being in the house.

I made it to the end of the movie, shaking my tushie to that perfect final dance scene; Winona Ryder had always been my childhood celebrity true love. She was a close second to Lydia on the scale of love, but I still made it my personal mission to watch every single one of her movies.

Closing my laptop and sliding it onto the floor, I slumped across Derek’s chest and he embraced me, coaxing me into sleep with the gentle stroke of his fingers in my hair; I was out like a light, and all I could feel was his fingers in my hair, the fingers on his other hand tracing random patterns into my back as his lips played connect-the-dots with the moles and freckles sprinkled across my face.

It was a perfect sleep, which was still a rare thing for me, but in Derek’s arms, there were no nightmares, no dreams at all actually, and even in my sleep I felt the constant sensation of Derek’s warm embrace.

 

***

 

I had been researching college courses since Saturday, and it’s now Wednesday; I hadn’t managed to completely ignore the case, but I had succeeded in finding a course that seemed pretty kick-ass.

My eyes read in depth over the Criminology and Criminal Justice course at Portland State University; it was an undergraduate course that would take two years to complete and was possibly within my price range if I got some help from my dad. I had read the web page and printed out the brochure, and re-read that a million times in the past four days, and the more I read the happier I became. It was daunting as fuck, but I liked the thought of standing on my own two feet for the first time, although I’m pretty sure that’s the part my dad hates the most about the 7 hour 47 minute drive.

“Stiles, you’ve been up for over an hour, I know you have, what the hell are you doing?” My dad called from the other side of the door, but I ignored him and continued reading over the entry requirements; I need to get my high school diploma, which wouldn’t be much of a challenge, seeing as I’m ahead of my class, and I had to catch up after the Nogitsune had me out of school for a while.

He pushed open the door and I looked over at him expectantly; he squinted to see what was on my laptop screen and, upon seeing the university logo, he nodded and the ghost of a smile settled on his content face.

“You’ve gotta get to school, and don’t worry, the website will still be there when you get back; I’m going to work and I’ll slip your application into the mail on my way, okay?” He raised his eyebrows and I grinned, closing the laptop over with one last glance; I had the application forms for a couple other courses, but I was reluctant to fill them out, due to the fact that after I printed them all out, I just took one look at Portland State and knew it was the one I wanted. An added bonus was that a certain Sourwolf had almost managed to approve of the distance; his exact words were ‘At least when you get yourself in trouble it won’t take long to go get your stupid ass out of trouble’.

I picked up my bag and left the house with excitement for the day; I planned on asking everyone about their plans for the end of the school year and announcing mine. The drive to school passed quickly, without any mental breakdowns or pity-parties.

Scott and Kira were waiting by Scott’s bike when I arrived; they had been saving my parking spot for me and I loved them for it. I climbed out and pulled Scott into a bro-hug, then took Kira into a one-armed hug; they smiled but looked at me with questioning eyes.

“Hey, guys’, how was your Tuesday night dinner at Kira’s house?” I asked and Kira blushed while Scott puffed his chest out with pride, and I rolled my eyes; didn’t they realise Kira’s mom is also a Kitsune? And she could hear them getting it on just as clearly as a werewolf could? Their cuteness held no logic.

“Okay, don’t answer, I don’t think I want to know… well, I already do know, but… no, I’m gonna stop right there. C’mon we’ve got Econ and you know Finstock’s gonna have your ass for not turning up to practice after school yesterday. Although you’re lucky you have such a great best friend ‘cause I covered for you and told him you were at the dentist… getting a check-up; you’re welcome, now les’go!” I started walking without checking to see if they were following me.

 I was pretty sure I stank of excitement and anticipation to the werewolves all day, and when lunch came, they finally got a real chance to ask me about it.

“So, what’re you so pumped up for?” Scott asked, sitting across from me, he had Kira on his right side, Isaac sat to his left and Aiden sat next to him with Ethan practically attached at the hip; Danny sat opposite Ethan, Lydia sat opposite Aiden and Allison ‘secretly’ played footsie with Isaac under the table, but if _I_ knew what they were doing, it was no secret that everybody else at the table knew too.

“Well… I’ve been doing some planning, for the future… for _my_ future, and I was actually kind of excited to ask you guys what you’re planning on doing? You know, after we graduate?” Their looks of shock and confusion had a slightly blush creeping across my cheeks and I looked down at my food.

“I’ve had my acceptance letter to Yale for months, I’ll be studying their Biological and Biomedical Science programme; it’s one of the most elite programmes of its type in the world,” Lydia looked smug, but extremely proud of herself and I grinned, my sudden interest in my friends’ futures seemed pretty sane after everything that has happened in the past couple years.

“Holy shit, Lyds that’s fucking awesome!” I reached over and patted her on the back; she shot a glare at the hand on her back and I flinched away, bringing my hands back to the burger on my plate.

“I’ve applied for a couple veterinary courses, I’m hoping for UC Davis ‘cause it’s just over an hour away, so I’d be able to get a lot of experience in with Deaton.” Isaac looked around at us shyly and I nodded in approval. I never thought of Isaac as the animal whisperer type, but now that I really think about it, he’d make one giant heart-throb of a vet; with those big blue eyes and the mountain of curls atop his head, he’d have the female population of Beacon Hills in the Veterinary Clinic demanding he gave their pussies a check-up… if ya know what I’m a’sayin!

 “Sweet, I was thinking about following my mom in nursing, but I haven’t really put in any solid research for it…” Scott rubbed the back of his neck and Kira’s arms around his waist had him relaxing his tense position; I smiled happily, knowing how happy my friends are.

“I’ve applied for the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television; it’s an awesome school and I’m kinda holding off applying for anywhere else because UCLA is my dream college, but I’ve been looking around at some other courses-” Kira talked animatedly but Scott cut her off with a gentle kiss; he pulled away with a small smile, his crooked jaw nuzzling into her temple.

“Kira… shh… you’re babbling.” He whispered in her ear and while Danny pretended to gag, Allison giggled and Lydia rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh.

“Oops, sorry!” Kira ducked her head under Scott’s chin and he held her tightly as he looked expectantly around the faces of our friends.

“Me and Aiden both applied for the physical education programme at Berkeley, and hopefully I’ll be able to earn a scholarship with the swim team; Aiden’s in the process of wooing some football scouts, so we’re pretty sure we’ve got it in the bag,” Ethan’s hand in Danny’s tightened and I watched their open affection, longing for it whilst Aiden just smirked across the table at Lydia, who looked – with lack of better words – turned on.

“I’ve already been accepted to Harvard, doing Computer Science, and I’ve also been accepted for a chance to earn an Internship with Google, but I don’t know if Google is really where I wanna be. I’m still mulling over things really…” Danny looked at Ethan as he spoke, and again, watching both their relationship and Scott and Kira’s relationship, I couldn’t choke the feeling of jealousy that brewed in the pit of my stomach.

“I’m waiting for a reply from a couple different colleges, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Teaching Masters at San Diego State University. What about you, Stiles? You seem pretty certain?” Allison turned toward me and I flushed with excitement; my friends were excelling and now it was my turn to talk enthusiastically about the daunting, yet increasingly spectacular future.

“Well, I’ve sent out _a lot_ of applications but I’mma cut a bitch if I don’t get into the Criminology and Criminal Justice programme at Portland State University. It’s a two year undergraduate course, and then I’m going to the Police Academy just like my dad did and I’m gonna be a cop and it’s gonna be awesome!” I grinned from ear to ear, with my mind set; they looked at me with a mixture of happiness and shock. They knew I was getting better after the Nogitsune, but I don’t think I’ve shown them exactly how far I’ve actually come.

“Maybe in college you’ll finally lose your virginity!” Isaac grinned at me and I flushed as my gut dropped to the floor; I looked into my lap as to not show my shock, but I’m pretty sure they all saw the guilt in my eyes. Needless to say the pack was pretty open about their sexual relations, but I hadn’t even told Scott that I had in fact had sex, multiple times, in many positions.

“You sly dog, when were you gonna tell us? When did it happen? Who was it with? Where was it?” The excited questions tumbled from Scott’s lips and I tried to keep my eyes on my food, but the curiosity in me won and I looked up to see all my friends’ faces lit up with curiosity and confusion.

“Can we… not? I don’t wanna… ugh! Don’t look at me like that!” I rubbed my fingers through my hair nervously; for Derek’s sake, I couldn’t let our relationship slip, at least not until next month, when I finally turn eighteen.

“C’mon, who’s the lucky girl? We need details honey, or we _will_ find out on our own” Lydia threatened and the thought of them snooping into that part of my life had me looking around at them, then around the cafeteria, and saw that nobody was listening in – why would they?

“It- ah… it was…” They gave me a hard glare and I groaned, throwing my head down on the table.

“It was Malia okay?” I glared at my own hands, “When I was in the Itchen House, she helped me out and there was a moment in the basement and we just… did it. I don’t know if it was partly the Nogitsune or what, but judging by the fact Peter hasn’t castrated me yet, she hasn’t told anyone and now I have, and I shouldn’t have and I’m I shitty person…”

“Dude…” Scott couldn’t seem to manage much more than that and I repeatedly slammed my head against the table, guilt flooding my thoughts.

“And you haven’t gotten any more action since then?” Isaac grinned and I shot him a murderous glare.

“Uh- no… course not…” I mumbled, taking an angry bite out of my burger.

“Stiles…” Scott caught my attention and his lost-puppy eyes almost brought tears to my eyes; he’s really learnt how to use his stupid face against us all, and right now really isn’t a great time for me.

“Can you just stop it, it’s my business and if I wanted you to know anything, I would damn well tell you!” I threw my burger down, stood up angrily and took a forlorn look back at my burger before picking it up and storming away from my shocked friends.

My happy mood had dissipated and I was left in a foul mood, angrily chewing on my burger in the back of the library. I knew it was an unlikely place for them to look for me, which is why I chose to hide out here; it’s quiet and empty of my friends.

The rest of the day passed slowly and I spent it avoiding the curious, hurt and confused stares of my friends. My anger did fade eventually, and when I got home, it was soon time for me to join Derek at the gym to participate in the new routine he had spent most of Sunday laying out and explaining to me. It was a torturous four hour work out with Thursdays and Sundays being our only rest days, although Saturdays only took two hours; according to Derek, the other two hours were for _other_ activities.

 

***

 

Our routine was coming along nicely; Derek had to compose the routine with my laziness in mind but after almost a whole week of going to the gym at six – I had of course spent the time between getting home and going to the gym with my dad or Scott, or the pack in general – and I was getting pretty comfortable with the four hours of mind numbing work-outs.

He explained to me last Sunday, and it was nearly an entire week later, that Mondays are leg days, Tuesdays are torso days, Wednesdays are arm days, Fridays are for yoga and cardio work and Saturdays are for sparring in the boxing ring for an hour, then some circuits for the last hour. It was hard, but I actually enjoyed all the time I got to spend with the man I love; it wasn’t so hard for me to admit that after a week of chanting it in front of the mirror in the bathroom every chance I got. I would probably die if he found out, because he’d end what we have quicker than I could apologise, and I definitely didn’t want that!

He seemed to be a big fan of squats; probably why his ass is so tight and perfect, but my favourite thing to do was always the exercise we finished with.

We sat on a soft, bright blue mat with our ankles locked together, sitting up to meet in the middle. Otherwise known as sit-ups, but I couldn’t resist the urge to sneakily peck his lips every time our faces met in the middle; and it’s not like I can hear any complaining on Derek’s side of the small, delicate kisses.

After the first couple of excruciating days of working out, I was starting to believe Derek was trying to exercise me to death; I still can’t walk from our first Monday session together, let alone catch up and feel the burn that pulsed through my entire body on this torturous Saturday afternoon.

On a nice day like today, all I had to distract myself from the pain was Derek’s sweat dampened face and those beautiful lips I craved more and more with every sit-up. I love that face, those scalding deep eyes, the lips that my teeth were currently nibbling on; I moved my hands from where they were crossed across my chest and wound my fingers into the soft hair behind his ears, massaging his earlobes tenderly, just the way he liked it.

“I love you,” Our lips parted from each other to calm our rushed breathing, and the words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I mean, it’s the truth, I really do get a strange floaty feeling when I think about him, and my body feels on fire every time he looks at me, but I was nervous; could Derek handle me saying that? Could I handle _myself_ saying that?

Derek watched me with level eyes, completely expressionless; a wave of panic washed over me and my arms flailed around my body as I attempted to scramble away. I know running from the situation was immature and would solve nothing, but I had to at least try. My efforts were useless as Derek’s ankles latched around mine in a tight grasp.

“What?” He asked, cool, calm and collected, but as I looked into his eyes, I spied that constantly reoccurring fondness.

I twisted and turned, my painfully awkward legs useless against his.

“Nopenopenopenopenopenope” I mumbled, my voice cracking and high pitched as Derek rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of my shoulders. I averted my eyes, looking anywhere but at him; I also failed to do so, as his hands snaked up my neck and rested on my cheeks, holding my eyes level to his.

“Say it again…”

“I… love you?” My eyebrows shot up, rejoicing in the way those words sounded on my own lips; his lips quirked at the corners slightly and the crease in his brow softened.

With my racing heart, I lay back on the mat, slipping easily out of Derek’s now light grasp. I covered my eyes with my forearm and breathed a laugh; I took his small smile for everything it was. It was Derek’s silent way of saying, “me too.”

“Let’s finish up here, we’ve only gotta do another twenty three sit-ups then we’re done.” Derek patted me knee and I crossed my arms again; we finished the last few sit-ups with a vigorous speed and enthusiasm that I knew I would be paying for tomorrow, when I get to relax and assess the damage of my first week under the weight of Derek’s training.

We walked to the locker room, his hand tightly clasped in my own and I sent a mental ‘suck it’ to Danny and Ethan. The tingles surging from his hand to mine had Goosebumps rising across my skin.

We had taken lockers beside each other to make things easier and we silently got our towels; I brought my shampoo and he brought that amazing mint shower gel that actually made your skin tingle. Needless to say it made interesting lube.

I didn’t see the need to go anywhere near his manhood as we showered together; we simply enjoyed the sight of each other’s happy faces. It was a brilliant look on his face and I loved being the reason for that happy look in his eyes.

No contact was made until we were fully dressed, carrying our gym bags out of the building; I pushed him against the side of my jeep when we reached it in the parking lot and captured his lips between my own.

“Can you… can you say it?” I murmured weakly as I pulled away, leaning my forehead against his tentatively. I didn’t want to push him, but every atom of my being wished to hear him tell me those three words.

He leaned very closely to my ear, his scruff tickling my cheek as his lips brushed my ear, “I love you, Stiles.” His breath whispered across my ear and I shivered, pulling his lips back to my own.

“I love you too, Der-Bear… I love you, I love you, I love you!” I chanted in the giddy way I had in front of my bathroom mirror; I barked a laugh and climbed into my car happily. He quickly joined me and my hand settled into his as I began driving; I never wanted to let go of that warm, secure hand, but I knew the gears would have to be shifted sooner or later.


End file.
